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John Singer Sargent

D R A W I N G S

from the Corcoran Gallery of Art

John Singer Sargent

DRAWING S
from the Corcoran Gallery of Art

John Singer Sargent

DRAWING S

from the Corcoran Gallery of Art

EDWARD J. NYGREN

PUBLISHED BY THE

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TRAVELING EXHIBITION SERVICE

AND THE

CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART

SITES is a program activity of the Smithsonian
Institution that organizes and circulates exhibitions
on art, history, and science to institutions in the
United States and abroad.

Partial support for this exhibition and catalogue was
provided to the Corcoran Gallery of Art by the
National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency,
Washington, D.C.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Nygren, Edward J.

John Singer Sargent: drawings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Catalogue of an exhibition.

Bibliography: p. 119

1. Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925—Exhibitions. 2. Corcoran
Gallery of Art—Exhibitions. I. Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925.

II. Smithsonian Institution. Traveling Exhibition Service.

III. Corcoran Gallery of Art. IV. Title.
NC139.S27A4 1983a 741.973 83-6716

ISBN 0-86528-019'3

Cover:

Study for an Angel in “The Sorrowful Mysteries”
(Cat. No. 40), c. 1895-1910.

Contents

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

JOHN SINGER SARGENT: DRAWINGS

CATALOGUE

GUIDE TO THE CATALOGUE AND ABBREVIATIONS

REFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS

119

Preface

A grant in 1978 from the National
Endowment for the Arts to conserve
the Corcoran’s substantial collection
of drawings by John Singer Sargent
led almost inevitably to the decision to publish a
catalogue of these works. Not only had conserva¬
tion uncovered drawings on the verso of several
sheets, but the illustrated checklist published in
1967 was found to contain misinformation on
medium, subject, and size; it also included an
item (49.132) which turned out to be a photo¬
mechanical reproduction of a drawing at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Moreover, three
other works on paper by Sargent do not appear
in that checklist—two early watercolors and an
ink drawing, a recent gift. An updated publica¬
tion seemed warranted.

An attempt has been made to relate the Cor¬
coran sketches to Sargent drawings in certain
public collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Mead Art
Gallery, Amherst College; Metropolitan Museum
of Art; Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum; Phila¬
delphia Museum of Art; Yale University Art Gal¬
lery; Imperial War Museum, London; and the
National Portrait Gallery, London. Additional
drawings are at a number of other institutions in
this country and abroad, as well as in private
collections.

This publication serves another purpose. It acts
as a catalogue for an exhibition of sixty works

from the collection, organized in cooperation
with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Ex¬
hibition Service (sites) and partially funded
through a grant from the National Endowment
for the Arts. Through exhibition and catalogue,
the Corcoran shares this great artistic resource
with others.

Although I am responsible for the information
provided herein, I do want to acknowledge the
help of specific people. I am especially indebted
to Trevor Fairbrother, whose work on Sargent’s
drawings is certainly the most important that
deals with this aspect of the artist’s oeuvre; his
telling comments pointed me in the right direc¬
tion. Richard Ormond was also helpful in shar¬
ing with me his insights on several pieces. The
pioneer work of the late David McKibbin, whose
observations are credited in individual entries,
deserves special recognition. I wish also to thank
the staffs of the various museums mentioned
above who made their collections available and
facilitated my research.

Among the Corcoran staff, past and present,
who have worked on this exhibition or helped
catalogue the works, are Linda Simmons, David
Tozer, Martha Pennigar, Fern Bleckner, Lynn
Kahler Berg, Judith Riley, Kathy Kovacs, and
Maureen Danaher. Donald Etherington served as
conservator. I am particularly grateful to my
assistant, Adrianne Humphrey, who went about
collecting information and checking data as well

as preparing the manuscript with her usual good
cheer and reassuring efficiency.

A special note of gratitude is due Julie Myers,
who as coordinator for this project at sites tem¬
pered her prodding with understanding. Diana
Menkes was invaluable as a sensitive but firm
editor.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Mrs.
Francis Ormond (Violet Sargent) and Miss
Emily Sargent, sisters of John Singer Sargent.
Conscious of their responsibilities to the artistic
legacy of their brother, they generously shared
their inheritance with America by placing large
groups of drawings in public collections.

Edward J. Nygren

Acknowledg ments

S ites and the Corcoran Gallery of Art are
pleased to present this exhibition of draw¬
ings by John Singer Sargent from the Cor¬
coran’s outstanding collection, spanning
Sargent’s entire artistic career.

Although known primarily for portraiture,
Sargent also engaged his talents in a range of sub¬
jects and media. If his portraiture retains an
impressive significance as a social document of
another era, this collection of drawings not only
demonstrates the scope of Sargent’s creativity, but
also provides an excellent framework for an
analysis of the artist’s drawing style.

While Sargent was a prolific draftsman, his
works in this medium are rarely the subject of
study. It is hoped that this exhibition and the
accompanying catalogue will focus attention on
this body of Sargent’s work and provide a step
in evaluating the significance of drawing in his
career, sites and the Corcoran Gallery of Art
are particularly pleased that we have been able
to collaborate in publishing not simply a cata¬

logue of the exhibition, but a publication which
documents the Corcoran’s entire collection of
Sargent’s works on paper.

Our special thanks go to Edward J. Nygren,
curator of collections at the Corcoran. His under¬
standing of Sargent the draftsman guided the
selection of the exhibition and his research made
the catalogue the important document it is. We
are also especially grateful to Linda Simmons,
Judith Riley, Adrianne Humphrey, and David
Tozer of the Corcoran. At sites, thanks go to
Julie Myers, exhibition coordinator, who ably
shepherded the exhibition through its many
stages; to Betty Teller, exhibition coordinator;
and Andrea Stevens, publications officer. The
exhibition was designed and produced by the
Smithsonian’s Office of Exhibits Central. We are
indebted to Mary Dillon, for exhibit design and
to Ms. Dillon, James Speight, and Dana Hunter
for overseeing the mounting of these very fragile
and beautiful drawings.

Peggy A. Loar
Director, sites

Michael Botwinick
Director, Corcoran Gallery of Art

_ ^ _

John Singer Sargent

DRAWINGS

EDWARD J. NYGREN

J ohn Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was prob¬
ably the most famous American artist at the
time of his death. His considerable interna-
ational reputation was built upon the oils and
watercolors that display his virtuosity as a
colorist. With the exception of the numerous late
charcoal portraits, Sargent’s drawings are less
well known. 1 The Corcoran Gallery owns more
than one hundred of his works on paper, ranging
from childhood sketches to studies made in the
final years of his life. The Corcoran’s comprehen¬
sive holdings, while less extensive than some col¬
lections, 2 provide a framework for studying the
development of Sargent’s drawing style. That the
works reveal an artist steeped in academic train¬
ing, conservative in outlook, and mindful of the
past does not diminish their value. At the very
least, these drawings add to our knowledge of a
major figure; at best, they startle with their bold
handling of line and form.

In her memorial to Sargent, Vernon Lee (nee
Violet Paget), writer and childhood friend, re¬
marked: “I recognize that his life was not merely
in painting, but in the more and more intimate
understanding and enjoying [of] the world around
him ... which the work of his incomparable hand
enables some of us, also to understand and
enjoy . . . .” 3 Sargent’s drawings—“the work of
his incomparable hand”—do offer insights into
his perception of that world. Hailed in his day as
a literal recorder of what came most prominently

to his attention, 4 Sargent practiced what he
preached to students: “Sketch everything and
keep your curiosity fresh.” 5 While such remarks
are the product of his maturity, and undoubtedly
refer to sketching in oil as well as in pencil, the
mass of drawings from his childhood and student
days document a long-standing commitment to
this credo.

Artists’ biographies from Vasari through the
nineteenth century are filled with stories of pre¬
cocious demonstrations of talent: the child be¬
comes in retrospect the father of the man. In the
case of Sargent, this is substantiated by a wealth
of visual material. He was born in Florence, Italy,
on January 12, 1856. His father, who had been a
physician in Philadelphia, gave up his career at
the insistence of his wife for the uncertain peri¬
patetic existence of the expatriate. From a very
early age drawing was an integral part of Sar¬
gent’s life. It was a way to keep occupied as the
family moved seasonally from city to city in
Europe; it also provided a means of relating to
the world, perhaps even of coping with it. The
boy imitated illustrations in books and went
sketching with his mother, an amateur artist, who
insisted that her son finish at least one of the
drawings he began each day. 6 From the outset,
then, Sargent learned to record what he saw in a
manner that would please as well as inform.

In 1868, while in Switzerland, Sargent received
his first real lesson, from Joseph Farquharson, a

Fig. 1. Lake Shore, Menaggio (3).

British artist. The following winter in Rome he
drew from classical and Renaissance sculpture
and went to the studio of an American landscape
painter, Carl Welsch, to copy the artist’s water-
colors. 7 It was apparently around this time, at the
age of twelve, that Sargent’s future career was
settled.

Sargent’s early training—drawing from books,
sketching sculpture, copying the works of others
—was part of the established academic method.
The emphasis was on learning the basic rules of
perspective and composition. Pencil and water-
color were the media used; oil painting came
later, only after the fundamentals had been ob¬
tained. The earliest works by Sargent in the Cor¬

coran collection reveal the effect of this regime. 8
Figure 1, a view of Menaggio on Lake Como, is
typical of the tight, finished drawing he produced
at this time. Presented as a vignette, the scene
resembles illustrations in annuals, travel books,
and drawing manuals of the early nineteenth
century. The peasants in the foreground add a
suitably picturesque note. While Sargent’s nu¬
merous early drawings record the travels of his
family, they seem less the product of careful
observation than of formulas. But it must be
remembered that they are the creation of a
thirteen-year-old and display a mastery of land¬
scape conventions unexpected in the work of
someone so young.

In the fall of 1870 Sargent entered the life class
of the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence.
Sargent characterized the school as “the most un¬
satisfactory institution imaginable,” 9 yet during
the years he attended the Accademia, his drawing
style underwent a significant change. For exam¬
ple, his landscape drawings of Hintersee, Ger¬
many, in the summer of 1871 (6), though exe¬
cuted in a conventional manner, demonstrate a
desire to confront nature intimately, to depict its
minutiae, rather than to draw prospects accord¬
ing to formula. This approach also reflects current
aesthetic concepts, easily accessible for instance
in the writings of John Ruskin or learned from
his mentor Welsch with whom he was traveling

that summer. Whatever the catalyst, Sargent
began seeing nature in a different way and depict¬
ing its forms with bold but reasoned use of darks
and lights. In Ramsau (Fig. 2), from September
1871, the composition remains a vignette like
Figure 1, but now atmosphere not locale is the
subject. Even the panoramic View of Ponte
Vecchio (9) is more concerned with the play of
light on architectural forms than with the depic¬
tion of a picturesque Florentine scene.

In the summer of 1874 Sargent and his family
settled in Paris so that he might continue his art
studies. He entered the studio of Carolus-Duran,
one of the leading portrait painters of the day,
and drew regularly at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts

J-.J

Fig. 4. Two Value Drawings of Man’s (?) Head (20).

after passing a rigorous examination. 10 An early
biographer described the sketches Sargent showed
Duran as being drawn with “microscopic fidelity,”
while a fellow American art student, J. Alden
Weir, judged Sargent’s drawings to be like Old
Masters. 11 Presumably, these were works similar
to Ramsau. Within a short time the careful delin¬
eation of foliage and tightness of drawing were
replaced with a far more forceful sense of line, a
concern for mass, and a dynamic use of negative
space.

Figure 4, two heads strongly modelled by light,
dramatize the advance in Sargent’s drawing style,
especially when it is compared with Figure 3 of
just a few years before. The difference between
the sketches can only be partially explained by
the fact that the earlier was intended as a por¬
trait, while the later was not. Figure 4 is not a
finished composition: it seems spontaneous and

accidental; elements are not clearly delineated.
Sargent sought not to reproduce a form in all its
detail but to express its mass and capture a mo¬
mentary mood. The painterly use of the pencil,
the boldness with which the black strokes have
been applied, is far removed from the tight, thin
lines and conventional shading in Figure 3. Nega¬
tive space is used dynamically in the creation of
form; the head emerges from an undefined dark¬
ness. This silhouetting technique is one Sargent
subsequently and regularly employed in his char¬
coal portraits. The reliance on tonality for effect
undoubtedly reflects the emphasis his teacher
Duran placed on values and half-tones in por¬
traiture. 12

Not all of Sargent’s drawings from this period
have the dramatic impact of Figure 4 nor exhibit
so strongly his exploration of chiaroscuro. Scrap¬
books filled with sketches and prints after Old

Masters and contemporary artists reveal a young
student in search of models; the diversity of man¬
ner documents the eclecticism of the search. 13 He
worked very hard at drawing; in 1877 this hard
work brought him a silver medal at the Ecole.
Reportedly the jurors were so impressed that they
wanted to give Sargent a higher award, but regu¬
lations prevented that. 14

There are qualities that unite the drawings
from this student period. Marked by less detail
and greater spontaneity, his sketching became a
means of recording the momentary in action or
mood. At times a quickness of line and a delight
in patterning inject a note of exuberance. There
is also, not infrequently, a touch of humor (see
15), perhaps attributable to Sargent’s concurrent
fascination with cartoons from Punch and other
humorous magazines. 15

In 1876 Sargent made his first visit to the
United States. By the time he returned for his
second visit, in 1887, he was an artist with an
international following. The year 1879 saw his
first success at the Paris Salon, 16 and thereafter
he showed regularly in Paris and London. He
settled permanently in the English capital in 1886
after his exhibition of the shocking portrait of
Madame Gautreau caused critical and public
outrage in Paris. 17

The Corcoran’s collection has a few drawings,
including two watercolors (25 and 26), that can
positively be assigned to the period between his
emergence as a mature artist and his decision in
1890 to take on a monumental, long-range mural
project for the Boston Public Library, The His -
tory of Religion. The only sketch that can with
certainty be dated is Figure 5, a series of hand
studies for Fumee d’Ambre Gris, a subject born
of his first trip to North Africa early in 1880.
Most likely done in his Paris studio, these slight
but deft renderings of fingers holding cloth dis¬
play Sargent’s adroitness as a draftsman. They
also coincidentally reveal an empiricism integral
to his artistic vision throughout his life.

Precise dating of works unrelated to paintings
is at times difficult, for similar qualities appear in

Sargent’s sketches over a long time span. Draw¬
ings such as Figure 6 are not representative of a
particular period; the economic use of nervous
line to capture an object or activity of passing
interest can be found in his work of the early
twentieth century as well as in that from the late
nineteenth. 18 And portrait studies, such as Figure
7, with their free outlines and rapid shading to
block out large value areas, also bridge many
years. What is evident in these mature sketches,
whether done simply as a record of a fleeting
sight or in anticipation of a projected painting, is
confidence, a confidence all the more palpable be¬
cause of the seeming nonchalance with which
they are dashed off.

Among Sargent’s best-known drawings are his
numerous charcoal portraits dating mainly from
the last two decades of his life. While most of
these are of fashionable or famous sitters, some
are more personal, such as Figure 8, a head of
Olimpio Fusco, presumably one of the many
Italian models he employed in London at the
turn of the century while working on the Boston
Library murals (see 41, 45, 51). Floating in space,
free of accoutrement, the head achieves a time¬
lessness. The fixed, impenetrable stare of the lush
young man—whose voluptuousness is heightened
by the velvety softness of the medium and the rich
tonality—adds mystery to an ideal of male beauty.

The drawing technique Sargent taught at the
Royal Academy at the end of the century, as
described by one of his students, seems particu¬
larly relevant to the Fusco portrait:

He then took up the charcoal, with an arm ex¬
tended to its full length, and head thrown back; all
the while intensely calculating, he slowly and de¬
liberately mapped the proportions of the large masses
of a head and shoulders, first the pose of the head
upon the neck, its relation with the shoulders. Then
rapidly indicated the mass of the hair, then spots
locating the exact position of the features, at the same
time noting their tone values and special character,
finally adding any further accent or dark shadow
which made up the head, the neck, the shoulders
and head of the sternum. 19

y \

/ N

Fig. 5. Hand Studies for

Sargent encouraged his students to start a draw¬
ing fresh every two-hour sitting, the length of
time it took him to do a portrait. 20 “Draw the
things seen with the keenest point and let the
things unseen fuse themselves into the adjoining
tones,” he advised. 21 The portrait of Fusco is a
paradigm of that principle, and its style of execu¬
tion seems to parallel Sargent’s method of paint¬
ing: starting with the middle tone, he then
worked up toward the darks, dealing with the
highest lights and darkest darks last. 22 Here the
light, created with effective erasures on the bridge
of the nose and the cheek, enlivens the face and
adds to its sensuality.

Much of the last half of Sargent’s life was spent
on two major series of murals in the city of

viee d’Ambre Gris” (24).

Boston—for the Public Library and the Museum
of Fine Arts. Almost half the drawings in the
Corcoran’s collection are related to those proj¬
ects. 23 Living in London during this period, Sar¬
gent became the most sought after portraitist of
his time. In 1894 he was elected an associate
of the Royal Academy; three years later, an
academician.

In 1890 Sargent and a fellow American artist,
Edwin Austin Abbey, were commissioned to dec¬
orate two areas of the Renaissance-revival Bos¬
ton Library designed by the architectural firm of
McKim, Mead, and White; the French painter
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was asked to do the
main stairway. Although as a student in 1877
Sargent had helped his master Carolus-Duran

Fig. 6. Two Sketches of a Swan (28).

with the ceiling decorations of the Louvre, he
had never undertaken a mural project himself.
The theme Sargent chose, after briefly considering
a Spanish literary subject, was a history of the
world’s religions from paganism through Judaism
to Christianity. The installation occurred in three
phases: in 1895, in 1903, and in 1916. The last
two side panels were installed in 1919.

It must have been an exhilarating prospect to
create a major decorative scheme for an impor¬
tant new building at a time when he was endlessly
painting portraits of the fashionable world, an
occupation he was beginning to find onerous. It
is not surprising that Sargent threw himself into
the project while he was still in New York. “I
wonder how John is getting on,” Abbey wrote at
the end of May 1890 to a friend. “I went into his
studio a day or two before I sailed [for England]

and saw stacks of sketches of nude people—
saints, I daresay, most of them, although from my
cursory observations of them they seem a bit
earthy.” 24

Not any of the Corcoran sketches have been
identified as those created in New York in 1890. 25
The earliest studies in the collection are two for
the Frieze of Prophets installed in 1895 (35, 36);
the rest, with one exception (37), are related to
the part installed in 1916. The majority of
sketches for the final phase probably were done
after the scope of the project was expanded in
1895; but some could predate that year. Certainly
works such as Figure 9 display an extraordinary
power that may well be the result of an initial
burst of feverish activity. 26 Since dating is prob¬
lematical, a broad range has been assigned these
sketches.

Fig. 7. Portrait Sketch of a Seated Woman (30).

Fig. 8. Olimpio Fusco (33)

Fig. 9. Study for a Devil in “Judgment” (47).

Although the iconography and stylistic ante¬
cedents of the murals have been analyzed, 27 no
systematic study of the relationship of the
sketches to the project has been done. Publica¬
tion of all the drawings according to subject with
information on medium, paper, inscriptions, and
models would help establish a chronological
framework. It is not likely, however, that all
studies for a given mural were executed at the
same time. For example, sketchy anatomical frag¬
ments such as Figures 9 and 10, although motifs
appearing in works installed in 1916, may well
date from the closing years of the nineteenth cen¬
tury. On the other hand, 49 and 50, as finely
drawn distinct elements for one of the late murals,
may well have been produced at the start of the
next century. 28

Before the Public Library project was com¬
pleted Sargent was asked by the Museum of Fine

') 3 C hclorw j j- 11

\v\ <.*»•» AT

Fig. 10. Study for the Risen Christ in
“The Glorious Mysteries” (41).

Arts to decorate the rotunda of its new extension.
The coffered dome was deemed by Sargent un¬
suitable for decorations, and alterations were
made to his specifications. With the inclusion of
reliefs, the project constituted a complete work
of art in which architecture, painting, and sculp¬
ture were shaped by one artistic vision. As with
the library, Sargent used models of the space to
work out the overall plan. Although there was
some contemporary criticism of the final decora¬
tions, they generally were admired. Upon their
completion in October 1921, the museum trus¬
tees asked Sargent to take on the stairway and
adjacent halls. Sargent agreed. Four years later,
on April 14, 1925, at the age of sixty-nine, as he
was about to leave London to install these murals,
Sargent died most unexpectedly.

That there is a distinct difference between the
studies for both phases of the museum project

and the sketches for the library murals is im¬
mediately apparent from a comparison of Figures
10 and 17. Although the exaggeration of muscu¬
lature, boldness of outline, and selective modelling
in Figure 10 make the torso in Figure 17 look like
its effete echo, it is clear that the anatomical
knowledge displayed in the former had an im¬
pact on Sargent’s conception of the latter. A
graceful elegance informs both the preliminary
studies as well as the finished decorations at the
museum, which Berenson dismissed as “very lady¬
like.” 29 This gentility, however, was not due to
any attenuation of Sargent’s powers (one need
only consider the drawings for Gassed, 93-99,
done simultaneously) but to his response to the
space. The vaulted ceiling of the third floor of
the library had a quality atmospherically condu¬
cive to mysterious, mystical, at times apocalyptic
subjects. The space cries out for forms that would
not be lost in its dim light. How different is the
neo-Palladian interior of the museum. A vaulting
dome, skylights, slender columns, an elliptical
room, and radiating passageways provide a plastic
and airy space for the introduction of light neo-
Baroque and neo-Classical murals and reliefs.

Given the delicate proportions of the rotunda,
Sargent’s decorations are appropriately restrained
in color and line; they enhance rather than over¬
whelm. The decorations for the library are like
gilded paintings and mosaics in a Byzantine basil¬
ica; those at the museum, like cameos and medal¬
lions in an interior of an English manor house by
Adam. The style of the drawings for the two
projects reflects these differences: the boldly exe¬
cuted forms in the library drawings emphasize
volume and mass while the elegant figures in the
museum sketches are conceived in classical, linear
terms.

An analysis of sources for the museum deco¬
rations from the antique to Michelangelo, from
Raphael to Ingres, from Guido Reni to Tiepolo
would reveal, as fully as the library murals, Sar¬
gent’s eclectic borrowings. 30 Nor can the forms
and subject matter of the decorations at the Paris
Opera (see 73) be ignored when discussing influ¬

ences on the program. Together, Sargent’s deco¬
rative projects offer an insight into his reliance on
established traditions; and the drawings, even
when vigorous and powerful, affirm his academi¬
cism.

From the multitude of extant drawings a re¬
construction of the evolution of the museum proj¬
ect could be attempted. 31 While such a task is
beyond the scope of an essay dealing with the
Corcoran collection, it is possible to outline the
progress of one mural. From the sketches for
Classical and Romantic Art (Figs. 11-18), the
steps leading up to the final composition (Fig.
16) can be plotted. Figure 11, here identified as
an early study for the mural, 32 suggests that Sar¬
gent may have originally considered four or more
vertical elliptical panels, similar to two now in
place. Figure 12, while retaining the verticality
of the composition, presents the dramatis per¬
sonae of the final design. Eventually Sargent set¬
tled on a pair of large horizontal oval composi¬
tions (Apollo and the Muses faces Classical and
Romantic Art) and two smaller vertical ellipses,
all echoing the shape of the space. This change in
orientation is documented in the Corcoran
sketch (Fig. 13). However, Sargent apparently
was not happy with the disposition of the figures
on the left or with the insistent sweep of the
architectural element, for he began playing with
a new variation (Fig. 14) . 33 Further developed in
Figure 15, this idea became the basis for the final
composition. Having decided on a theme and a
general composition, the artist, following aca¬
demic practices, began posing models in positions
on a preconceived idea (Fig. 17).

A description of how Sargent in 1921 arrived
at the final composition for one of the four
painted tondos in the rotunda is indicative of his
general approach:

In the afternoon several studies were made for an
allegorical figure that was to fill a lunette [actually
a tondo] representing music. A floating figure with
violin was the thought the artist had in mind. The
model posed in various positions holding two sticks
to represent the instrument and bow but nothing
satisfactory was accomplished. At the close of the

Fig. 11. Apollo. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Sargent Collection. Gift of Miss Emily Sargent
and Mrs. Violet Ormond in memory of their brother John Singer Sargent.

Fig. 12. Allegorical Study.

Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis Ormond.

day's work Mr. Sargent brought out a portfolio of
plates of the decorations of the Paris Opera House
and showed a picture of one of the lunettes saying
“This is the sort of thing I have in mind."

The following day Mr. Sargent complained that he
should have a “fiddle" instead of the sticks as he
would need the instrument especially in making
studies of the hands holding it. The instrument was
not available around the studio but a suggestion soon
brought one in due time from a pawn shop for a
reasonable price. That afternoon two more drawings
were made, neither of them serving as the final result.
However, it was on the following day that Mr.

Sargent conceived the figure that now adorns the
ceiling of the rotunda. After carefully arranging the
drapery about the figure, which took all of twenty-
five minutes, he started to work and completed the
drawing in a little more than an hour . 34

From this reminiscence the artist’s method can
be extrapolated. Sargent began with an idea, per¬
haps suggested by a painting or sculpture. Pre¬
sumably with a multi-figural mural, he worked
out the general composition before placing models
in specific poses. He would then sketch the figure,

Fig. 13. Compositional Study for “Classical and Romantic Art" (59).

Fig. 14. Sketch for
“Classical and Romantic Art.”
Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. The Sargent Collection.
Gift of Miss Emily Sargent
and Mrs. Violet Ormond in
memory of their brother
John Singer Sargent.

Fig. 15. Sketch for “Classical and Romantic Art.” Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Sargent Collection.
Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Violet Ormond in memory of their brother John Singer Sargent.

Fig. 16. “Classical and Romantic Art.” Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Francis Bartlett Collection.

adjusting the model’s position and altering the
composition as he progressed. Details of the fig-
ure were also made. After drawing from life, he
would abstract the figure, making it conform to
an idealized design. In the case of Classical and
Romantic Art, the black model becomes a youth¬
ful Anglo-Saxon Orpheus with tousled hair,
while elsewhere a male model was changed into
a female figure (see 62-64). With figural rela¬
tionships and positions established, Sargent at¬
tended to details, not all of which appear in early
compositional studies. One sheet (Fig. 18) con¬
tains several details: Apollo’s right arm holding
a ring which becomes a wreath; a leopard’s head
(not in the Corcoran’s compositional study); the
tripod on which Apollo sits, and the god’s left
leg. The head in the mural is the reverse of his

sketch of the Apollo Belvedere in 56. Once the
details were worked out, a final compositional
study was made. Sargent frequently did an oil
study, sometimes nearly a full-size canvas, before
creating the mural. He undoubtedly added a few
final touches to the installed canvas. Reportedly
the actual painting took but several weeks,
whereas months went into the preparation and
studies. 35

After overseeing the installation at the Boston
Public Library in 1916, Sargent intended to re¬
turn to England, but his departure was delayed
by portrait commissions. He did not get back to
London until April 1918, a year after America
had entered World War I. Almost immediately
he agreed to go to the Western Front at the re¬
quest of the Ministry of Information to gather

Fig. 17. Orpheus, Study for
“Classical and Romantic Art” (60).

material for a painting dealing with the coopera¬
tion between the American and British troops.
He left at the beginning of July and stayed at the
front until late October, accompanied by a fellow
artist, Henry Tonks.

Although the trip produced a number of extra¬
ordinary watercolors as well as several oils, 36 the
most important picture to come out of the experi¬
ence was Gassed, a monumental canvas showing
a field strewn with blindfolded young soldiers,
victims of a gas attack. Two lines of other victims,
looking like modern variations on the Dance of
Death, move painfully along. In the background,
another group of young men oblivious to the
horrors of war enjoy a game of soccer.

The Corcoran collection contains a number of
works from Sargent’s tour in France—quick

Fig. 18. Four Studies for
“Classical and Romantic Art” (61).

sketches of soldiers, motorbikes, trucks, gun car¬
riages, and horse stalls as well as depictions of the
war-torn countryside (83-92). It also has several
studies for Gassed (93-99) worked up later in
his London studio from pen and pencil sketches
made on seeing the wounded being taken to a
dressing station. A few days later he wrote Evan
Charteris about the “harrowing sight,” remark¬
ing that it was one of the few scenes he had
witnessed which could be treated epically. 37

Sargent’s passionate response to the scene is
conveyed through the immediacy of the large
charcoal drawings, and through his treatment of
the soldiers. The sketches and painting are filled
with handsome youths whose lives have been
ruined by the war; the idealization of these vic¬
tims heightens the poignancy of the subject. The

Fig. 19. Study of Two Soldiers for “Gassed” (93).

fact that several studies are on sheets also con¬
taining ephemeral nudes for the museum murals
(Fig. 19) underscores the connection, conscious
or not, between Greek gods and Allied soldiers.
While Sargent’s apotheosis of the common sol¬
dier had its purest expression in the murals for
the Widener Library at Harvard (104, 105),
Gassed with its rhythmic movement of proces¬
sional figures in a frieze-like composition presents
an elegy to youth. This elegiac tone pervades Fig¬
ure 20, in which the three lower disembodied
heads produce a stroboscopic effect that suggests
the young men have been shot by a firing squad.

The drawings for Gassed were not the last
Sargent created. Work on the museum project
was then in progress and continued over the
next six years. Moreover, he went on to paint in
1920-1922 a group portrait of British generals
in the war for the National Portrait Gallery,
London (100-103), and also the murals for the
Widener. Nevertheless, the Gassed studies serve
as a fitting conclusion to a discussion of his draw¬
ings. Reflections on mortality, these images of
young men with little hope for the kind of life
Sargent had enjoyed are among the most emo¬
tionally charged works of his final years.

Fig. 20. Six Head Studies for “Gassed” (99).
NOTES

1. A few drawings have been illustrated in general studies or in
catalogues where they are discussed briefly in relation to particular
projects of Sargent’s, but little attention has been paid to the vast
number of drawings as a whole. The most thoughtful and provoca¬
tive treatment, albeit for a small group of works, is Trevor J.
Fairbrother, “A Private Album: John Singer Sargent’s Drawings

of Nude Male Models,” Arts Magazine, Dec. 1981, 56: 70-79. Mr.
Fairbrother will be publishing a study of Sargent’s portrait draw¬
ings later this year.

2. The largest public collections are at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, the Fogg Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. The Corcoran’s collection was once almost twice as large as
it now is, but 90 works were sold in 1960, several finding their way
into the Metropolitan’s collection. Descriptive titles for these
previously owned works are in the Corcoran files.

3. Vernon Lee, “J.S.S.: In Memorium,” in Charteris, p. 255.

4. Charteris, p. 13. This attitude is put forth repeatedly as proof
of Sargent’s genius by contemporary writers who championed a

genteel realism at a time when the avant-garde was challenging the
validity of representational art. The view of Sargent as an objective
recorder of the world around him was fostered by the artist him¬
self, who insisted he only painted (or drew) what he saw and
encouraged others to do the same.

5. Flint, n.p.

6. Charteris, pp. 6-9; Downes, p. 4. Rachel Field, “John Sargent’s
Boyhood Sketches,” St. Nicholas, June 1926, 53: 774-777, repro¬
duces works from 1865 clearly based on natural history
illustrations.

7. Fairbrother, p. 78, n. 5, mentions Sargent’s drawing from sculp¬
ture, and such works are in a sketchbook at the Fogg (1937.7.1).
The Fogg and the Metropolitan have additional sheets and sketch¬
books from about the same period with drawings after Classical
and Gothic sculpture; and there is an 1869 sketchbook on loan to
Brooklyn. On Sargent’s studying with Welsch, see Charteris

(p. 10) and Mount (p. 23).

8. See 1-4. Others works from this period are at the Fogg, the
Metropolitan, Boston, Philadelphia, Worcester, and Yale.

9. From a letter dated Apr. 25, 1874, to Mrs. Austin, quoted in
Charteris, p. 19; also see Mount, p. 26.

10. Letter to Ben del Castillo, Oct. 4, 1874, quoted in Charteris,
p. 22. Mount (p. 32) states that Sargent attended the Ecole to
perfect his draftsmanship, since Carolus did not emphasize draw¬
ing. He also mentions that Sargent shared a model with another
American in Carolus’ atelier, Carroll Beckwith, who became a
life-long friend (p. 34).

11. Downes, p. 6. Dorothy Weir Young, The Life and Letters of
J. Alden Weir (New York: Yale University Press, 1960), p. 50.

12. Charteris, p. 28. Figure 4 should also be compared with a
lithograph of a woman’s head, drawn by Carolus in 1877 but
reproduced in L’Estafette, June 28, 1880 (Fogg, 1937.7.27, p. 7).

13. See the scrapbook at the Metropolitan, 50.130.154.

14. See letter dated June 5, 1877, from Emily Sargent to Vernon Lee
(Colby College, Maine) quoted in Ormond, p. 95, n. 16. See
Mount on Sargent’s typical day (pp. 41-42), which went from
early morning to late evening.

15. See Metropolitan scrapbook 50.130.154. The Punch illustrations
range in date from 1873 to 1879.

16. Sargent won an honorable mention that year for his portrait of
Carolus-Duran. I am indebted to Trevor Fairbrother for bringing
this to my attention and for correcting the often-repeated story
that Sargent won an honorable mention the previous year for
Oyster Gatherers of Cancale (see 23).

17. Sargent’s single entry at the 1884 Salon, the portrait (now at
the Metropolitan) showed the well-known Parisian beauty in
arrogant profile, her stark white skin set off by a black satin
decollete evening dress with diamond-studded straps, one of
which has fallen off her shoulder. See Trevor J. Fairbrother, “The
Shock of John Singer Sargent’s ‘Madame Gautreau,’ ” Arts
Magazine, Jan. 1981, 55: 90-97.

18. See, e.g., the sketch of Madame Gautreau (c. 1883) at the
British Museum, reproduced in Ratcliff, Pit. 112, p. 82; and a pre¬
liminary study for Bringing Down Marble from the Quarries to
Carrara (1911) in a sketchbook (1937.7.23, p. 5) at the Fogg
(Ratcliff, Pit. 321, p. 214).

19. Henry Haley, quoted in Charteris, p. 186.

20. Ormond, p. 251, Pit. 88. Ethel Smyth reported that it took
Sargent “just over one and a half hours” to do her charcoal
portrait.

21. Charteris, p. 187.

22. Ibid., p. 29.

23. Numerous studies for the two projects are at Boston and the
Fogg. Smaller holdings and related material are at the Gardner
Museum, Metropolitan, Chicago, Philadelphia, Worcester,

Amherst, and Yale. Sargent also did two murals for the Widener
Library at Harvard in 1920-1922 (see 104—105).

24. Lucas, Vol. I, p. 231.

25. One of the drawings sold by the Corcoran in 1960 is
tantalizingly identified as “Series of drawings in N.Y. 1890 Never
used. Saints, etc.” See object file, Corcoran. Whether this was
more than one sheet is not clear. The identification was probably
made by Thomas A. Fox, the architect who assisted Sargent and
catalogued the drawings for presentation; see n. 31 below.

26. See Ormond, p. 46, for a discussion of his work on the mural
in 1891—1893 in Abbey’s studio in Gloucestershire.

27. The most recent study of the murals is Martha Kingsbury,
“Sargent’s Murals in the Boston Public Library,” Winterthur
Portfolio, 1976, 11: 153-172. There were also several contemporary
reports describing the iconography. Discussions of this project
also appear in general studies of Sargent.

28. These two works were done on the same kind of paper, sug¬
gesting a common date of execution. Information on the type of
paper Sargent used may help in arranging the drawings
chronologically.

29. Ormond, p. 94.

30. See ibid, for discussion of some of Sargent’s diverse sources;
also Charteris, p. 208n, where he dismisses the issue of sources
even as he mentions a few possibilities. The Fogg owns a sketch
by Sargent of Michelangelo’s reclining figures (1943.1815.20) done
from casts at the Royal Academy in 1913; there are also photo¬
graphs of the same figures in a scrapbook at the Metropolitan
(50.130.154). The impact of photography on Sargent’s work needs
to be explored; Fairbrother presents some fascinating comparisons
between contemporary homoerotic photographs and Sargent’s nude
studies, but the scrapbooks suggest other connections may exist.

At the time of the Ingres exhibition in Paris in 1914, Sargent
reportedly remarked: “Ingres, Raphael and El Greco, these are

my admirations” (Charteris, p. 195).

31. For the early development of the project, which included the
decision in 1917 to shift from reliefs to mural paintings for the
large decorations, see Mount, p. 370. The Boston Museum owns the
largest collection of drawings for Sargent’s decorations. Preserved
Smith estimates there were at least 200 charcoal drawings done for
the rotunda alone (“Sargent’s New Mural Decorations, Scribners,
Mar. 1922, 71: 380). Sargent gave 50 to the museum in 1921. More
were presented by his sisters Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis
(Violet Sargent) Ormond along with other drawings after his
death. His sisters also gave a number of works to other institutions
then, and these gifts were supplemented from time to time. The
Metropolitan received a large gift in 1950 from Mrs. Ormond (her
sister died in 1936). Thomas A. Fox catalogued some 500 drawings
for presentation to various museums, annotating each sheet with

a number presumably according to his idea of the project, subject,
or period. An analysis of these annotations might prove useful.

32. Boston owns another version of this composition also identified
as Sketch for Apollo (28.788), as well as several detail studies and
designs for the final piece.

33. An almost identical study is also at Boston (28.791).

34. A. K., “A Few Summer Reminiscences on John Singer Sar¬
gent,” Artgum, Nov. 1925, 4 (No. 1): 17-18. These remarks seem
particularly relevant to the Corcoran’s preliminary studies for
Astronomy (62-64).

35. Joseph Goss Cowell, “Memories of Sargent,” Artgum, Nov.
1925, 4 (No. 1): 19.

36. Watercolors are at the Metropolitan, Boston, and the Imperial
War Museum. The Road, an oil, is at Boston.

37. Letter dated Sept. 11, 1918, quoted in Charteris, p. 214. Tonks
is also quoted at some length on the episode, p. 212. Pencil
sketches of some of the groups are in a sketchbook at the Fogg
(1937.7.34). Mount (p. 358) states that Sargent shifted from pencil
to charcoal pencil; however, the size of the Corcoran sheets and
the unrelated studies on them make it unlikely that he used this
format at the front.

GUIDE TO THE CATALOGUE

The catalogue is arranged in chronological order, with
drawings relating to a particular project—for example,
murals in the Boston Public Library—grouped together,
indicates works included in the traveling exhibition.

Title: other titles under which the drawings have been
exhibited or published are included under the rubrics
exhibition and bibliography.

Dimensions: are given in inches and centimeters, height
preceding width.

Medium: includes a description of the paper and its
watermark. The medium is given for the verso image
only when it differs from the recto medium.

Inscription and annotation: as is customary, inscrip¬
tions are considered to be those of the artist, annotations
to be additions in another hand. The annotated num¬
bers on all works given by the artist’s sisters, except for
accession numbers, are probably those of Thomas A.

ART MUSEUMS,

Albright-Knox

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Amherst

Mead Art Gallery, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts
Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Museum
Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago
Clark Institute

Sterling and Francine Clark Institute, Williamstown,

Massachusetts

Fogg

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Gardner Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Fox, who catalogued some 500 drawings of Sargent’s
(see n. 31 in the above essay). Slashes indicate linea-
tion; () enclose material that has been lined through.
Positions on the sheet are as follows:

u.l. = upper left u.c. rr upper center u.r. upper right

c.l. = center left ctr. = center c.r. r= center right

1.1. = lower left l.c. = lower center l.r. = lower right

Provenance: is included for only three works: 23, 25,
and 26. All the other drawings were gifts to the Cor¬
coran from the artist’s sisters, Emily Sargent and Violet
Sargent Ormond.

Exhibition and bibliography: are given in shortened
forms; full titles can be found in References and
Exhibitions, p. 119. The symbol [R] indicates an illus¬
tration for the recto image described in the entry. The
only source that illustrates the verso images is Simmons
(American Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Col¬
lages in the Collection of the Corcoran, 1983). The
symbol for the verso illustration is [V].

ABBREVIATIONS

Metropolitan

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mount Holyoke

Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley,

Massachusetts

Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery, London

Virginia

Virginia Museum, Richmond
War Museum

Imperial War Museum, London
Worcester

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts
Yale

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

£ 1. An Alpine Scene 1868/1869

7-5/16 x 10-1/2 (18.6x26.7)

Pencil on cream wove paper
Verso: Two Tree Trunks

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 238”; verso, u.r.: <“1868 v 9”>

/ “49-141”

Exhibition: Private World, 136, as The Matterhorn [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as The Matterhorn [R];

Simmons, 663 [R,V]

49.141

This dramatic rendering of an alpine scene was
executed in the summer of either 1868 or 1869 when
the Sargent family was in Switzerland. The verso anno¬
tation, probably added later by another hand, supports
the stylistic dating, for identical notations appear on
other early drawings (see 2-4). 1

In this finished sketch the young artist (twelve or
thirteen) demonstrates his early grasp of landscape con¬
ventions as found in books and drawing manuals from
the period.. A printed inspiration for this composition is
suggested by its vignette-like presentation, while the
melodramatic chiaroscuro and the stylized delineation
of elements document Sargent’s familiarity with English
and continental prototypes. The soaring bird provides
a sense of scale and heightens the spatial grandeur of
the scene, demonstrating the youth’s awareness of the
sublime as an aesthetic concept in landscape art.

Although previously published as The Matterhorn , 2
that identification can be questioned. The central moun¬
tain does not have the distinguishing features of that
famous site, nor is the precipitous treatment of the
setting compatible with the topography of the area.
While it can be argued that Sargent may have taken
artistic liberty, this mountain bears little resemblance
to the view of the Matterhorn he painted about the
same time in watercolor. 3

1. Additional works from the period are at the Fogg, Metropolitan,
Boston, Yale, Philadelphia, and Worcester.

2. Gross and Harithas and Private World, 136.

3. Illustrated in Charteris, opp. p. 12.

2. Lake Shore: Rocks and Trees by the Water
1868/1869

7-5/16 x 10-1/2 (18.6 x 26.7)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 229”; verso, u.r.: “1868 v 9
/ 49.111”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 664 [R]

49.111

S ince this sketch seems to be from the same sketch¬
book as 1, it probably represents a scene in the Alps.
There is a related pencil landscape at Yale (1931.29).

3. Lake Shore, Menaggio 1869

7-9/16 x 10-13/16 (19.2 x 27.5)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Verso: Outline Sketch of Mountain Range

Inscription: recto, 1.1.: “Menagio” [sic]

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 246”; verso, u.r.: <“1868 v 9”>

/ “49-257”

Exhibition: Private World, 137

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 665 [R,V]

49.257

Th. drawing of Menaggio, a small village on Lake
Como in Italy, was undoubtedly done in June 1869
when the Sargents were travelling north to Munich. 1 A
very similar drawing, inscribed “Lago di Como,” is in
the Philadelphia Museum (31.14.20), and there are re¬
lated drawings in other collections. 2

The composition is enlivened by peasants and native
boats, which were part of the picturesque vocabulary in
landscape art of the late eighteenth and early nine¬
teenth centuries. Sargent could well have learned such

conventions through prints and books, as well as
through his studies in Rome in the winter of 1868-1869,
when he was working with the American landscape
painter Carl Welsch and copying his watercolor
landscapes.

1. This date, first suggested by David McKibbin, is almost certainly
correct in view of the travels of the Sargent family in the summer
of 1869; see letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, Corcoran.

2. At Yale, Boston, and Worcester.

4. Swiss Chalet in the Mountains 1869
74/4 x 94/4 (18.4 x 24.8)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 230”; verso, l.r.: “1869 v 9”; 1.1.:
“49.110”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 666 [R]

49.110

.A. virtually identical drawing of an unidentified
alpine scene, even to pencil rubbings, is in a sketchbook
at the Fogg Museum (1937.7*1). The page preceding
that image is missing in the sketchbook, 1 as are a few
others. In view of the inscription in the front of the
sketchbook —“J°hn S. Sargent / from his affectionate /
Sister Emily / Christmas 1868 - / Rome - ”—this work
probably dates from the same period as 3.

1. The sketchbook page is numbered twice: “8” in ink above, and
“9” in pencil below. The numbering in ink is sequential; the sheet
that should be numbered “8” in pencil is missing. The fact that
the sheet in the Fogg sketchbook is almost 2 in. wider than the
Corcoran drawing suggests that the latter has been trimmed.

5. Portrait of a Small Boy and Entrance
to a Mountain Shack 1871

11-3/8 X 15-9/16 (28.9 x 39.5)

Pencil with fixative (?) on buff wove paper
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 58”; verso, l.r.: “49.113”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 667 [R]

49.113

Tie dating of this work is based on the similarity in
style between the drawing of the boy and other portrait
sketches dated 1871. 1

1. See Head of a Girl , Worcester (1932.39), and another in an
1870-1871 sketchbook at the Fogg (1937.7.3). A related work,
dated June 1871, is in Ormond, Fig. 5.

& 6. Rocks and Brush, Hintersee 1871

11-5/16 x 15-7/16 (28.7 x 39.2)

Pencil with fixative (?) on cream wove paper
Inscription: recto, l.c.: “Hintersee / Aug. 1871—”
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 258”; verso, u.l.: “49.102”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 668 [ R ]
49.102

.Although Hintersee is a fairly common place-name in
Germany and Austria, the location inscribed was prob¬
ably the village not far from Ramsau in Germany (see
7)* This and many other drawings document Sargent’s
walking tour of the Alps that summer in the company
of his teacher, Carl Welsch. 1 The sheet may have come
from a sketchbook now at the Fogg (1937.7.4) contain¬
ing drawings of views and landscape elements done
around Hintersee, since at least one page appears to be
missing from the volume. The Corcoran sheet is very
close to Landscape Studies at Philadelphia (31.14.1),
which is also inscribed “Hintersee” and contains two
elements similiarly placed. 2

1. Mount, p. 26.

2. A related drawing inscribed “Blanc Eis” and dated Aug. 22,
1871, is also at Philadelphia (31.14.2). A drawing of a tree done at
Hintersee, dated Aug. 27, 1871, is at Boston (28.960).

& 7. Forest Scene, Ramsau 1871

11*3/8 x 15*3/8 (28.9 x 39)

Pencil with gray wash on buff wove paper
Inscription: recto, l.r.: “Ramsau Sept. 4 / 1871”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 56”; verso, l.c.: “49.101”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Romantic Trees; Simmons,

669 [R]

49.101

R^amsau is a small town in southern Germany not far
from Berchtesgaden and the Austrian border. Of all
Sargent’s many landscape drawings which record his
travels at this time, this is one of the least topographical
and most atmospheric in its concern for the way sun*
light filters through dense foliage and illuminates the
forest floor. Although composed and executed according
to current conventions, the drawing reveals an artistic
sensitivity to the particular in nature which is a depart*
ure from Sargent’s earlier picturesque views. It repre*
sents a significant advance in the development of the
young artist, now fifteen.

8. View of Bellosguardo, Florence 1870/1872
3*15/16 x 5*3/4 (10 x 14.6)

Pencil on beige wove paper
Inscription: recto, l.r.: “Bellosguardo”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 2096”; verso, l.r.: “49.138c”

Exhibition: Private World, 140

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 670 [R]

49.138c

.Adthough it is difficult to date 8—11 precisely, they
probably were done in 1870 or 1872. The family was in
Florence for the winter and spring of those years, and in
1870 Sargent first attended the Accademia delle Belle
Arti. The treatment of the landscape is less conven*
tionalized than before (1-4), and here Sargent uses
distinct tonal contrasts to create form and pattern, a
technique evident in other drawings from 1871 (6 and
7). Charteris remarked in his biography of Sargent how
the young man “during the spring*time, when not
engaged in his classes [at the Accademia] ... would set
out with his mother to sketch the neighborhood .. .”

(p. 15). This particular view may record one of those
outings.

^ 9. View of the Ponte Vecchio, Florence
1870/1872

341/16 x 5-3/4 (9.4 x 14.6)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Verso: Two Peasants Carrying a Basket, and Two Heads
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 209c”; verso, l.r.: “49.138d”
Exhibition: Private World, 139 [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 671 [R,V]
49.138d

Ihis panoramic view of the bridge and the River Arno
was taken from a hillside which provides a sweeping
vista popular with artists and tourists. The dramatic
rendering of light and shadow identifies the time of
day as sunset.

In the verso image the schematic treatment of the
figures and sketchy handling of the face are too tenta¬
tive for precise dating. However, these studies seem to
be related to the drawings of peasants in 1872 sketch¬
books at the Fogg (1937.7.7 and 1937.7.9). A similar
sketch is on the verso of 10.

10. Landscape with Villa 1870/1872

3-3/4 x 4-1/2 (9.5 x 11.4)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Verso: Peasants with Wheelbarrow and Other Sketches
Annotation: recto, 1.1: “J.S. 209a[?]”; verso, l.r.: “49.138b”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 672 [R,V]

41.138b

Charteris comments on how the young Sargent and
his mother made excursions from Florence in the early
1870s to sketch “among the valleys and slopes that curl
and tumble from the mountains to the plain, or among
the olives and cypresses at their feet” (p. 5). This and
11 seem to have been the product of one such outing.
The faint outline of a leg on the left relates to the figural
sketches on the verso of this sheet.

11. Landscape with Monastery 1870/1872
3-3/4 x 5-11/16 (9.5 x 14.4)

Pencil on cream wove paper
Verso: Sketches of Clouds

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 209”; verso, l.r.: “49.138a”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 673 [R,V]
49.138a

12. Head of a Man with Curly Hair 1872
12 X 10-1/2 (30.5 X 26.7)

Pencil on gray-green wove paper marked les-annonay
montgol[fier]

Inscription: recto, u.L: “1872”; l.r.: “1872”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 169.”; verso, l.r.: “49.115”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 675 [R]

49.115

portrait head of a young peasant woman, turned in
a three-quarter view, facing in the opposite direction
from this man’s head, is in the collection of the Phila¬
delphia Museum (31.14.12). Also dated 1872 and done
in pencil on gray-green paper, it may have been a com¬
panion piece for the Corcoran portrait. The measure¬
ments for the Philadelphia sheet (10-11/16 x 10-5/16)
are appreciably smaller in height; however, it is con¬
ceivable that it was cut down. A related drawing of the
same date, with two portrait studies, is at Boston
(28.939).

& 13. Sketches of Cattle c. 1872

10-5/8 X 14-3/8 (27 x 36.5)

Pencil with fixative (?) on cream wove paper

Verso: faint counterproof of a figure carrying a basket

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 27.”; verso, l.r.: “1071 / 49.144”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of Cows [R];

Simmons, 676 [R]

49.114

.Adthough the date of this drawing is not certain, it
seems to relate to studies of cattle done around Carlsbad
(near Prague) in May 1872, in sketchbooks at the
Fogg . 1 The costume of the young cowherd helps to place
the period and locale, as does the style: the cattle are
blocked out with quick lines and then modelled with
hatching restricted to very limited areas.

1. 1937.7.7 and 1937.7.12; the latter sketchbook is close in size
to the Corcoran sheet.

14. Mother and Child c. 1871-1872

343/16 x 5-9/16 (9.6 x 14.2)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Verso: Napoleonic (?) Head and Judgment of Paris (?)

Inscription: verso, u.l.: “1 white shirt / 1 cotton s— / 1 night—
/ 1 under[?] / 1 pair socks / 3 pants[?]— / 1 collar”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 204b”; verso, 1.1.: “49.148b”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 674 [R,V]

49.148b

lhe dating of this work is problematical* Although it
corresponds to other figurative sketches from 1871 and
1872, 1 the list on the verso seems more like the notations
of a man in his early twenties than those of a sixteen-
year-old. It is also possible that the work is from the
same period as Oyster Gatherers (23). However, until
there is further study of Sargent’s youthful stylistic de¬
velopment, a date in the early 1870s seems reasonable*

1. See, e.g., Seated Figure of a Woman and Two Standing Figures
and One Head , Yale (1931.33, 1931.34), both dated 1871; Figure
of Woman with Basket , Metropolitan (50.130.141r), 1872; and two
1872 sketchbooks at the Fogg (1937.7.7, 1937.7.9).

J* 15. Woman and Man on Cot c. 1874-1877

345/16 x 64/2 (10 x 16.6)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 204”; verso, l.r.: “49.148a”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Flapper and Youth; Simmons,
677 [R]

49.148a

Formerly published as Flapper and Youth, this slightly
risque drawing seems to date from a much earlier
period than that title would suggest. Probably from a
sketchbook (see 16), it is closest in style to a drawing of
the same size called Siesta on a Boat at the Metropolitan
(50.130.141n), in which three men wearing boaters,
with feet raised, lounge on a seat covered with striped
material similar to that on the cot shown here. 1 Most
likely these casual sketches, exuberant and humorous,
date from Sargent’s student days in Paris. 2

1. A drawing of women seated on the grass (Boston, 28.952),
dated April 16, 1875, seems stylistically related to the Corcoran
sketch.

2. A similar slightly ribald tone informs two related drawings at
the Fogg in which a man has his arms around a woman. In the
more finished composition (1937.8.7), Sargent changed the
decollete evening dress of the other sketch (p. 3 of sketchbook
1937.7.27) into a Spanish outfit and put a rose between the
woman’s teeth.

16. Two Men, Smoking and Writing(?)
c. 1874-1877

4 X 6-5/8 (10.1 X 16.8)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 204c”; verso, l.r.: “49.148d”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Two Men Smoking;
Simmons, 678 [R]

49.148d

his drawing, perhaps of fellow artists caught in a
casual moment (the man on the left could be sketch¬
ing), may well be from the same sketchbook as 15. A
faint study of a head is to the left.

17. “Ramparts at St. Malo—Yacht Race”

3-15/16 x 6-1/2 (10 x 16.5)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Inscription: recto, 1.1.: “Ramparts at S. Malo • yacht race”
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 204a”; verso, l.r.: “49.148c”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 679 [R]
49.148c

1875

another drawing done at St. Malo, France, appears
in an 1875 sketchbook in the collection of the Metro¬
politan (50.130.154w). Stylistically this particular
sketch with its small, almost sticklike figures relates as
well to preliminary drawings for Rehearsal of the Pas de
Loup Orchestra at the Cirque d’Hiver (Boston). 1

1. Two are illustrated in the catalogue of the 1928 exhibition at
the Grand Central Art Galleries; another is at the Metropolitan
(50.130.154c).

18. Men on a Spar

c. 1876(7)

6-3/8 x 11-1/2 (16.2 x 29.2)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 331”; verso, l.r.: “49.146” u.c.: “31”

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 226, as Men in Riggings;
Private World, 145, as Men on a Spar, Venice [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Men on a Spar, Venice;
Simmons, 680 [R]

49.146

This work has elsewhere been dated c. 1900 1 on the
presumption that it was done in Venice when Sargent
frequented that city (also see 27). Rejecting this loca¬
tion, I feel an earlier date is warranted, for this drawing
seems to relate to other shipboard subjects in a scrap¬
book from 1876 at the Metropolitan (50.130.154v),
especially one of men in the rigging. However, such
sketchy outline drawings are difficult to date on stylistic
grounds, and the year assigned here is admittedly
conjectural.

1. Gross and Harithas and Private World, 145.

19. Value Drawing of a Man's Head 1875-1880
4 x 34/2 (10.1 x 8.9)

Gray wash with charcoal on cream wove paper
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 274”; verso, l.r.: “49.147a”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 681 [R]

49.147a

This drawing employs graphic techniques similar to

20, although it is less successful in its realization of form.
A sketch of a life class (Metropolitan, 50.130.128) with
its velvety blacks and dramatic use of light links such
works to Sargent’s student days in Paris.

20. Two Value Drawings of Man’s (?) Head
1875-1880

345/16 x 6-5/16 (10 x 16)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 247a”; verso, l.r.: “49.147b & c”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Value Drawings of a Man’s
Head; Simmons, 682 [R]

49.147b,c

The use of a strong light to model a head suggests a
date around 1880 or slightly earlier. At this time Sargent
was employing chiaroscuro for dramatic effect in draw¬
ings and paintings of figures in interiors illuminated by
candlelight or firelight (see 19). 1 Although formerly
published as a man’s head, the sex of the sitter is open
to question.

1. Charles Merrill Mount in his article “Carolus-Duran” (p. 405)
discusses Sargent’s use of lamplight, especially in the mid4880s.

A lithographic head of a woman by Carolus-Duran, dated 1877 but
published in L’Estafette on June 28, 1880, in a scrapbook at the
Fogg (1937.7.27, p. 7), bears an interesting resemblance to these
works. The Metropolitan has a drawing by Sargent of a young
man’s head inscribed “Firelight” (50.130.140p) which may be
from the same period.

21. Two Heads c. 1875 (?)

10 X 14-5/16 (25.4 X 36.3)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 155”; verso, l.r.: “49.254”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Harithas, p. 73 [R] and cover
(detail) [R]; Simmons, 683 [R]

49.254

Although the idealized treatment of these views of
the same male head suggests a date around the time—
the early 1920s—of the creation of the murals for the
Widener Library (see 104), the style of drawing points
to a much earlier date. The heavy shadow around the
eyes and the crisp outlines have their parallels in a
portrait drawing of Frank Fowler done around 1875
when both men were studying with Carolus-Duran in
Paris. 1 While the date remains a question, a tentative
early one is assigned here.

1. On the New York market in the fall of 1982, the Fowler portrait
appeared on a sheet with a head of another student, Sargent’s
cousin R. T. Sargent. See Jill Newhouse and Eric Carlson,
“Drawings and Watercolors: Catalogue II,” New York, 1982, 29.
There are also similarities in stroke and characterization to two
lithographic drawings done about 1905; Albert Belleroche, “The
Lithographs of Sargent,” Print Collector’s Quarterly, 1926, 13,
pp. 41 and 43, Pits. V, VI.

22. Bacchus 1875—1880(?)

Two sheets, overall dimensions: 25-1/16 x 16-11/16 (63.7 x 42.4)
Pastel and gilt paint over pencil (?) on paper laid down
Annotation: verso, u.c.: “#79”; l.r.: “49.255”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Woman Pouring Wine for
Bacchus; Simmons, 684 [R]

49.255

This composition presents several problems. Its format
suggests it was conceived as a mural decoration, and its
subject relates to the work Sargent did for the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1916 until his death in 1925.
Yet there is no evidence that this particular design was
part of that project, and the style as well as the medium
points to a much earlier date. During his student days
in Paris Sargent made numerous sketches after Old
Masters and contemporary artists. Although no source
for this work has been identified, it is possible that the
subject and design were inspired by the mural decora¬
tions being executed at that time, for example by Paul
Baudry and others at the Paris Opera. 1

Few pastels by Sargent are known. 2 In this piece the
less than felicitous handling of the medium argues for
an early date, as does the indecisive and awkward
anatomical drawing. Still, the composition is sophisti¬
cated in its use of intertwining sweeping curves and
overlapping forms. A date in the late 1870s when
Sargent was working with Carolus-Duran on a large
ceiling decoration 3 has therefore been tentatively
assigned.

1. A number of drawings after Old Master compositions are
preserved in the collection of the Metropolitan along with some
taken from contemporary artists (50.130.143a—g); also see the
scrapbook 50.130.154. I am indebted to Trevor Fairbrother for his
comments on this work, and to Anne L. Poulet of the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.

2. The Portrait of Paul Helleu (c. 1899?), at the Fogg (1933.18),
is the only other pastel I have seen. In that work Sargent
employed the dry, chalky quality of the medium to achieve the
illusion of a momentary sketch in color. Another pastel of Helleu
lying in the grass is in the British Museum.

3. The Triumph of Maria de Medici (1878), Louvre.

<£ 23. Oyster Gatherers of Cancale 1878
4-1/2 x 7 (11.4 x 17.8)

Brown ink and pen over pencil on beige wove paper
Inscription: recto, l.r.: “J. S. Sargent”

Annotation: verso, “peintre american / John Sauveur Sargent /
1858—1925 / pas defiler ne a florence mort a Londres”; u.r.:
“Desmondf?] / Sargent”; l.r.: “1976.57”

Provenance: ?; with a Paris dealer; gift to Corcoran by Irving
Moskovitz, 1976

Bibliography: Gazette des Beaux*Arts, Aug. 1878, 18:179 [R].
Simmons, 685 [R]

Sargent exhibited the oil painting Oyster Gatherers of
Cancale (En route pour la peche; now in the Corcoran)
in the Paris Salon of 1878. This pen and ink drawing
after the painting was executed by the artist specifically
for the Gazette des Beaux*Arts in conjunction with a
review of the exhibition.

^00

/r-A

24. Hand Studies for “Fumee d’Ambre Gris” 1880

943/16 x 13-3/8 (24.9 x 34)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 47”; verso, l.r.: “49.130”

Exhibition: Royal Academy, 1926, 260, as Study of Hands and
Foot for “Ambergris”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Studies: Woman's Finger
Pulling Drapery, Woman's Toes; Simmons, 686 [R]

In January 1880 Sargent went to North Africa for the
first time. Out of this experience came several works,
including Fumee d’Ambre Gris (Clark Institute), ex¬
hibited at the Paris Salon in 1880. The painting depicts
an Arab woman sheathed in white, standing above an
incense burner. While the oil reflects current artistic
fascination with the exotic, which the artist clearly
shared, this particular sheet of sketches of fingers grasp¬
ing material demonstrates Sargent’s concern for detail. 1

1. I am indebted to Trevor Fairbrother for pointing out that these
were studies for Fumee d'Ambre Gris. A related sheet of studies,
miscatalogued as Studies of Hand of Javanese Dancer in the Metro¬
politan (50.130.140v), probably came from the same sketchbook.
Also see Sketch of Arabs at Boston (28.954).

& 25. Canal Scene (Ponte Panada F ondamento Nuove),
Venice 1880(?)

9-7/8 x 14 (25.1 x 35.6)

Watercolor over pencil on cream wove paper
Inscription: recto, 1.1.: “John S. Sargent”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “52.11”; verso, u.c.: “MG 905”; ctr.:

<Nol / S S - 6 S / No 4° 15 cen de marge>; 1.1.: “52.11”

Provenance: ?; estate of Henry Schlesinger; sold by Mrs. A. H.
Berly, Christie’s, Mar. 3, 1913, lot 34, as A Canal Scene, Venice;
bought by Colnaghi and Knoedler (Obach); sold by Knoedler to
Robinson and Farr, Philadelphia, Oct. 1913, as A Canal Scene with
a Gondola Venice; owned by Mabel Stevens Smithers by 1925 1 ;
bequest to Corcoran, 1952

Exhibition: ? Paris, 1881, 3413 or 3414, as Vue de Venise; Macbeth
Galleries, 1925, 19, as Canal Scene, Venice

Bibliography: Corcoran Bulletin, July 1953, 6 (No. 2): 20; Adelson,
as Venice, Gondola on Canal; Simmons, 687 [R]

52.11

David McKibbin, who identified this Venetian view
with the Casino degli Spiriti in the distance, has sug¬
gested that it and 26 may have been the two watercolors

exhibited by Sargent as Vue de Venise at the Salon in
May 1881. 2 If so, they are the first watercolors ever
exhibited by Sargent, although he had been using the
medium since childhood. In any case, it is certain they
both date from the early 1880s. Sargent himself, in
1913, told Knoedler’s they were “done about 1883.” 3
This date is further supported by stylistic evidence: the
application of washes within prescribed areas defined by
pencil outlines, as well as the restrained palette, clearly
places this and 26 much earlier than the vibrant, fluid
watercolors done in Venice after 1900.

1. The Macbeth catalogue lists the works as in a private New York
collection; the identity of the owner is given on the back of a
contemporary photograph at the Frick Reference Library,

New York.

2. See notes by McKibbin in object folder, Corcoran.

3. I wish to take this opportunity to thank Nancy C. Little,
librarian at M. Knoedler and Co., New York, for her assistance in
tracking down information on the works. Sargent’s comment, with
a reference to a letter from the artist, is recorded in the copy of
the Christie sales catalogue at Knoedler’s; the letter itself could
not be located. Since Sargent’s remark was made 30 years after

the works were executed, this discrepancy in date is not surprising.

26. Campo dei Frari, Venice 1 1880(?)

9-7/8 x 14 (25.1 x 35.6)

Watercolor over pencil with gouache on cream wove paper
Inscription: recto, l.r.: “John S. Sargent”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “52.10”; verso, l.c.: “MK 904”; ctr.:

“No 2 / <pp blance / de la meme grandeur / No 5 15 cen de
marge>; l.r.: “52.10”

Provenance: ?; estate of Henry Schlesinger; sold by Mrs. A. H.
Berly, Christie’s, Mar. 3, 1913, lot 33, as Piazza on a Canal,

Venice; bought by Colnaghi and Knoedler (Obach); sold by
Knoedler to Robinson and Farr, Philadelphia, Oct. 1913, as
A Piazza on a Canal, Venice; owned by Mabel Stevens Smithers
by 1925 2 ; bequest to the Corcoran, 1952

Exhibition: ? Paris, 1881, 3413 or 3414 as Vue de Venise; Macbeth
Galleries, 1925, 18, as Piazza, Venice

Bibliography: Corcoran Bulletin, July 1953, 6 (No. 2): 20;
Ormond, p. 69; Adelson, as Venetian Piazza, Simmons, 688 [R]
52.10

In the summer and fall of 1880 Sargent was with his
family in Venice, where he had a studio in the Palazzo
Rezzonico on the Grand Canal. It was during this visit

that he began painting the genre scenes of Venetian
women engaged in everyday activities. 3 This early rare
watercolor, perhaps one of the two exhibited at the
Salon in May of 1881, 4 displays Sargent's thematic and
compositional interests. Charteris describes at length
the artist's habits at the time: “Daily he could be seen
in a gondola, sketching with his sister Emily herself an
accomplished water-colourist, in one of the side canals,
painting some architectural feature in the full glory of
the sun and shadow, or seated with his easel on one of
the lesser piazzas making a study of a church facade,
doorway, window, or one of the thousand effects which
Venice offers in unique abundance" (p. 53). That
Sargent chose as a subject a church famous for its art
treasures—the Friars' Church—adds to the significance
of the scene.

1. Identification by McKibbin; see notes in object folder, Corcoran.

2. See 25, n. 1.

3. E.g., Venetian Bead Stringers (c. 1880-1882), Albright-Knox;
Venetian Water Carriers (c. 1882), Worcester; A Street in Venice
(c. 1882), National Gallery, Washington.

4. See discussion in 25.

£ 27. Gondolier, Venice 1880-1900

114/16 x 743/16 (284 x 19.8)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 12”; verso, u.r.: “49-137”

Exhibition: Royal Academy, 1926, 209; Private World , 144 [R]
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 689 [R]

49.137

treviously published with a date around 1900, this
drawing may well have been executed on an earlier visit
to Venice. A very similar drawing of a gondolier, also
seen from the rear, is in the Metropolitan (50.130.111).

& 28. Two Sketches of a Swan 1880-1900

64/16 x 9-3/8 (15.4 x 23.8)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 19a”; verso, l.r.: “49.253a”

Bibliography: Charteris, opp. p. 68 [R]; Gross and Harithas, with
49.253b (29) as Swans — Two Studies; Simmons, 690 [R]

49.253a

Sargent sketched animals from his childhood on. 1 This
drawing and 29 clearly date from a mature period when
he was able to capture the essence of an animal quickly
with a few nervous lines and the mere suggestion of
shading. However, the sketchiness makes it difficult to
pinpoint the date. 2 Two related sheets with studies of
swans, probably from the same sketchbook, are at the
Metropolitan. 3

1. Charteris, p. 9, records an instance at the Zoological Gardens in
London when Sargent was nine. Downes, p. 4, mentions an even
earlier occurrence.

2. There are several bird studies at Boston which have been dated
after 1900. I would tend to place the Corcoran drawings before
that year.

3. 50.130.142n and 50.130.142o. There are additional pencil
sketches of swans at the Fogg (1937.8.82-84, 88), but these are
from a smaller sketchbook.

29. Two Swans in the Water 1880-1900
64/8x9-7/16 (15.5x24)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 19”; verso, l.r.: “49.253b”

Bibliography: Charteris, opp. p. 68 [R]; Gross and Harithas, with
49.253a (28) as Swans — Two Studies; Simmons, 691 [R]

49.253b

S 30. Portrait Sketch of a Seated Woman
c. 1890-1900

14 x 10 (35.5 x 25.4)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 106”; verso, 1.1.: “49-145”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Value Drawing of a Seated
Woman [R]; Simmons, 692 [R]

49.145

Attempts to connect this sketch with a finished por¬
trait have proved fruitless. It may well be one of those
quick studies Sargent made before settling on a pose.
Certainly the cigarette in the woman's right hand
attests to the casualness of the drawing, since it would
be unlikely that Sargent would portray a lady in such
a manner. A date in the 1890s seems reasonable in view
of the dress and style; however, a slightly later date
cannot be ruled out. In the treatment of the background
shading and blocking out of the figure this drawing is
reminiscent of the pencil sketch Asher Wertheimer
(1898) at the Fogg Museum (1937.7.11). Moreover, the
seated pose, ultimately derived from Ingres' portrait
Madame Riviere, 1 was frequently employed by Sargent
from the early 1890s into the first decade of the
twentieth century.

1. See Mount, “Carolus-Duran,” pp. 409-413, for a discussion of
the Ingres source.

31. Head of a Man 1888-1905

9-3/16 x 6-13/16 (23.3 x 17.3)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 125”; verso, l.r.: “49.140”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, frontispiece [R]; Simmons,

693 [R]

49.140

In 1968 David McKibbin suggested that this could be
a study of President Woodrow Wilson, whose portrait
Sargent painted in 1917. 1 While the sitter does resemble
Wilson, he resembles him no more than he does John
D. Rockefeller, who was also painted by Sargent in
1917. Moreover, I feel this sketch is earlier than those
1917 commissions. Stylistically it is very close to the
portrait John Alfred Parsons Millet done at Broadway
in 1888 (Hirschl and Adler Galleries). However, it also
should be compared to Gabriel Faure, of 1896, at the
Fogg Museum (1943.585) and to the pencil sketch of
the Duchess of Marlborough at the Metropolitan
(31.43.1), from about 1905. Thus, a date range that
spans these works has been assigned. 2

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, and annotated
copy of Gross and Harithas, Corcoran.

2. Head of a Young Woman at Yale (1931.22) is stylistically
related to the Corcoran piece and is the same size; however,
neither its subject nor its date has been determined.

& 32. By the Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati (?)
1907 (?)

13-3/8 x 9-3/4 (33.4 x 24.8)

Charcoal and stump on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 328”; verso, 1.1.: “49.250”; l.r.:
“49.250”

Exhibition: Private World, 155 [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Mount, “Phoenix,”
pp. 11 [R], 12; Simmons, 694 [R]

49.250

Ihe location of this dramatic drawing was undoubt¬
edly suggested by the similarity of the balustrade to that
in the painting The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati,

Italy (1907), at the Art Institute of Chicago. For this
reason the Corcoran drawing has been published with
the firm date of 1907. McKibbin’s suggestion that it
could be a study of Vernon Lee seems unfounded. 1 How¬
ever, Mount in 1978 connected the Corcoran drawing
with a watercolor in the Tate of a similar scene. He
identified the sitter in both as Jane de Glehn, who was
traveling with Sargent that summer; she also appears
in The Sketchers of 1914 (Virginia Museum) and in
Chicago’s painting. 2 While locale, sitter, and date seem
plausible, I feel the sketchiness of the drawing precludes
such a positive identification.

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, and annotated
copy of Gross and Harithas, Corcoran.

2. Mount, “Phoenix,” pp. 12-13.

£ 33. Olimpio Fusco c. 1900-1910
24-1/2 x 18-5/8 (62.2 x 47.3)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Inscription: recto, l.c.: “Olimpio Fusco / 63 A Aspinlea R d /
Hammersmith”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “Ch. 2.”; verso, u.L: “S.6.57”;
l.r.; “49.104”

Exhibition: Private World, 146, as Olimpio Fasco

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Olimpio Fasco [R]; Simmons,
695 [R]; Trevor Fairbrother, John Singer Sargent Portrait Drawings
(New York: Dover, in press)

49.104

In the last two decades of his life Sargent virtually
gave up painting oil portraits to devote more time to
mural projects. He did, however, execute numerous
charcoal heads, some of friends, but most as commissions
from the fashionable world. In this rare instance when
the subect is a male model Sargent displays his ability
to exploit the sensual qualities of the medium. Al¬
though its date is open to question, in style the drawing
corresponds closely to the portrait William Butler Yeats
(1908) A Moreover, the paper is the same that Sargent
used in sketches for the last phase of the Boston
Library project.

1. Ormond, Pit. 109.

j* 34. Bedouin Women 1890-1891

10 x 13-13/16 (25.4 x 35.1)

Charcoal and stump on cream wove paper
Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 13”; verso, u.r.: “49-252”

Exhibition: Private World, 154

Bibliography: Charteris, opp. p. 136, as Study of Arab Women [R];
Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 696 [R]

49.252

jAdthough formerly published with a date of 1905,
this drawing was done in the winter of 1890-1891 dur¬
ing Sargent’s stay in Egypt. 1 Sargent made the trip to
collect material on religious motifs and symbols for his
mural on the history of religion commissioned by the
Boston Public Library. The impact of these heavily
draped figures on his conception of a frieze of prophets
can be seen in 35 and 36. A very similar drawing is at
the Fogg (1931.96), and a related work, executed on
Whatman paper watermarked 1889, is at the Metro¬
politan (50.130.105). 2

1. I am indebted to Trevor Fairbrother for suggesting the early
date for this work. The 1905 date was undoubtedly assigned
because of the Bedouin subjects Sargent treated during his trip to
the Middle East in 1905-1906.

2. Also see Sketch of Three Turkish Women (28.946) and Sketch
of a Turkish Woman (28.936) at Boston.

Boston Public Library mural project: History of Religion , 1890-1916 [35-54]

35. Study of Ezekial for “Frieze of Prophets”
c. 1891-1892

24 x 18-7/8 (61 x 48)

Charcoal and stump heightened with white on gray laid paper
backed with modern gray laid Ingres paper

Annotation: verso of backing, u.r.: “49.88”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Fairbrother, p. 78, n. 7;
Simmons, 697 [R]

49.88

Drawings 35 and 36 relate to the first phase of the
mural for the Boston Public Library, commissioned in
early 1890 and installed in 1895. Drapery studies for the
Frieze of Prophets (at the north end of the third-floor
hall), this work and 36 were probably done after
Sargent’s trip to Egypt in the winter of 1890-1891 (see
34) and perhaps before January 1892, by which time
there were sketches for the entire frieze. 1 Similar draw¬
ings are at the Fogg in a sketchbook (1937.7.32), and at
Boston (28.531-3) and Philadelphia (29.182.15).

1. Mount, pp. 196, 209.

36. Preliminary Drapery Study for “Frieze of
Prophets” c. 1891-1892

24-3/8 X 18-11/16 (61.9 x 47.5)

Charcoal and stump heightened with white chalk on gray laid
paper backed in 1979 with modern gray laid Ingres paper

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “6.193”; verso of backing, l.r.: “49.80”
Exhibition: Private World, 142 [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Fairbrother, p. 78, n. 7;
Simmons, 698 [R]

49.80

This particular study, unlike 35, does not correspond
to a specific figure in the frieze. However, there can be
little doubt that it was a preliminary idea for one of the
prophets, perhaps Joel, who is the only one whose face
is hidden in the folds of his drapery. There is a related
drawing of a similarly draped figure at the Fogg
(1937.8.159).

£ 37. Draped Male Figure with Hammer and Pincers
(preliminary study for The Redemption )
c. 1895-1900

24-1/2 x 18-13/16 (62.2 x 47.8)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet

Verso: Draped Male Figure vuith Ladder (study for The
Redemption )

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “3.2.3 A4 / 49.196”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.201 /
3.2.3”; 1.1.: “3.2.3”; l.r.: “3.2.3 / 3.2.3 / 49.196”

Exhibition: Royal Academy, 1926, 220, as A Man with a Hammer

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for a Mural Decoration
Project: Gowned Figure Holding Hammer; Harithas, as Gowned
Figure Holding a Hammer , pp. 64, 71 [R]; Simmons, 699 [R,V]
49.196

lhis sketch and the image on the verso are studies for
the frieze of angels for the mural at the south end of the
hall, installed in 1903. The drapery of the first angel on
the left in the final composition corresponds closely to
that depicted in the recto image. Implements of the
crucifixion appear, however, in the hands of other
angels. Related drawings are at Boston (28.553 and
28.563).

The verso image, a study for the angel at the far right
of the frieze, differs from the final version in the
handling of the drapery. This sketch was discovered
during recent restoration. A drawing of a similar figure
is at Boston (28.562).

38. Study for Mary in “The Sorrowful Mysteries”
c. 1895-1910

184/2 x 244/4 (47 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “6.5.10”; verso, u.l.: “49.119”; 1.1.:

“6.5.10”; u.r.: “S.6.81”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas as Draped Figures [R];
Simmons, 700 [R]

49.119

This and the following sketches 39-51 have all been
identified as studies for the murals completed in the
third and final stage of the commission and installed in
1916. Since it is possible that some predate the pre¬
sumed terminus a quo of this phase (1903), a broad
date range has been assigned. This particular sketch is
for the Virgin Mary, who is shown in a swoon, behind
the crucified Christ in the central panel of The Sorrow -
ful Mysteries , which occupies a position at the right side
of the vault at the south end of the hall.

39. Study for Adam in “The Sorrowful Mysteries”
c. 1895-1910

18-3/4 x 24-1/4 (47.6 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on blue-gray laid paper
marked michallet

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “6.6.8”; verso, u.l.: “2 16 8”; 1.1.: “6.6.8”;
u.r.: “S.6.90”; lr.: “49.124”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Draped Man Holding Stick
between Legs [R]; Simmons, 701 [R]

49.124

The figure of Adam appears as a semi-draped man in
the lower left of the composition and serves as a con¬
trast to Christ as the Good Shepherd on the right. Re¬
lated drawings of Adam are at Boston (28.605, 28.607).

& 40. Study for an Angel in

‘The Sorrowful Mysteries” c. 1895-1910

24-5/8 x 18-7/8 (62.6 x 47.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “6.5.3 / 6.5.3 / 6.5.3”; verso, u.l.: “6.5.3 /
S.6.112”; 1.1.: “6.5.3 / 49.129”

Exhibition: Private World , 147, as Study of a Studio Model

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Studio Model —
Man with. Hands Clasped [R]; Simmons, 702 [R]

49.129

Despite the ominous air of this bold drawing, the
placement of hands leaves little doubt that it served as
a compositional study for the angel to the left of the
crucified Christ in The Sorrowful Mysteries . A study for
the right-hand angel (called a “mourner”) is at Boston
(28.601).

& 41. Study for the Risen Christ in

“The Glorious Mysteries” c. 1895-1910

24-3/8 x 18-5/8 (61.9 x 47.3)

Charcoal and stump on brown (discolored) laid paper marked
MICHALLET / FRANCE

Inscription: recto, l.r.: “Monday / Saturday / morning”; 1.1.:
“Carmine Tedeschi / 73 Chelmsford Street / Hammersmith”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “7.2.3”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.18 / 7.2.3”;

1.1.: “7.2.4 S[?] / 49.96”

Exhibition: 1955-1970; The Human Form, 1980, 24, as Study of a
Model — Torso

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Model —

Torso [R]; Simmons, 703 [R]

49.96

Tie Glorious Mysteries is a low relief at the peak of
the vault at the south end of the hall dealing with the
Incarnation and illustrating the fifteen mysteries of the
rosary (see 38—40). The inscription presumably identi¬
fies the sitter. Two drawings of the same figure in a
similar pose are at Boston (28.709, 28.914).

43. Man Screaming, Study for “Hell”
c. 1895-1910

24-3/8 x 18-3/4 (61.9 x 47.8)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
INGRES / FRANCE [WATERMARK]

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “2.6.4”; verso, u.l.: “S.4.12”; l.r.:

“2.6.4 / 49.99”

Exhibition: Private World, 150, as Study of a Figure for “Hell” [R];
The Human Form, 1980, 23, as Study of a Figure for “Hell” [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Figure for
“Hell” [R]; Simmons, 705 [R]

49.99

Te quick, choppy strokes and rough shading add to
the frenzied anguish of this contorted figure. This draw¬
ing served as the source for one of the victims being de¬
voured by the demon in Hell. A sheet at Boston con¬
tains pencil studies of the left arm and head (28.808).

& 42. Four Nudes, Studies for “Heaven” and “Hell”
c. 1895-1910

18-11/16 x 24-1/2 (47.5 x 62.2)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “2.6.12A”; verso, 1.1.: “49.74 / 2.6.12”;
u.r.: “S.4.38”

Exhibition: 1955-1970; The Human Form, 1980, 22, as Study
for Orestes

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Orestes [R];
Stebbins, pp. 215-216, Fig. 175, as Study for Orestes [R];
Simmons, 704 [R]

49.74

Formerly identified as Study for Orestes (Boston), this
dynamic series of four sketches was undoubtedly done
in conjunction with the mural project for the Boston
Library. 1 The full-length crouching figure in the upper

part is a sketch for one of the damned in Hell (lower
right corner), the pose being reversed. The two on the
right are variations on the pose used for the female
figure just to the right of center in Heaven. The figure
to the left does not seem to have been incorporated in
the project, but the pose is suggestive of a deposition,
and it may in fact have been related to the scourging of
Christ in the right panel of The Sorrowful Mysteries. 2
A sense of exhilaration is evident in the placement of
these quick impressions, which also display Sargent’s
facility as a draftsman.

1. McKibbin, in 1968, first associated these studies with Hell in
the library project (see letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James
Harithas, and annotated copy of Gross and Harithas, Corcoran).

2. The same model in a related pose appears in a study for The
Sorrowful Mysteries (Boston, 28.604); see Fairbrother, pp. 76,

78, illus.

44. Study of a Figure for “Hell” c. 1895-1910

18-7/8 x 24-1/4 (48 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /

FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 11: “4.17”; l.r.: “17.2.4”; verso, u.L: “17.2.4”;
11: “17.2.4”; u.r.: “S.4.17”; l.r.: “49.95”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 706 [R]

49.95

lhis sketch served as the basis for the victim in the
lower right of Hell. As a variation on 45, it may have
been done at the same time with the same model. An¬
other related drawing, Two Male Reclining Figures in
Perspective , is at Philadelphia (29.182.8).

45. Crouching Figure, Preliminary Study for
“Hell” c. 1895-1910

19 x 244 /4 (48.3 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Inscription: recto, u.L: “Giuseppe Mancini”

Annotation: recto, l.r.s “17.2.5”; verso, u.L: “49.247 / 17.2.5”;

1.1.: “17.2.5”; u.r.: “S.4.19”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Giusseppe [sic] Mancini;
Harithas, pp. 64, 66 [R], Giusseppe [sic] Mancini; Simmons, 707 [R]
49.247

iresumably Giuseppe Mancini was a model for this
sketch and 44. Although the pose does not actually
occur in Hell, it is a reversed variation of 44 and there¬
fore can be considered a preliminary study for that
mural.

46. Study for a Devil and Victim in “Judgment”
c. 1895-1910

24-1/2 x 19 (62.2 x 48.2)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked mbm (France) /
INGRES D’ARCHES

Annotation: recto, u.r.: “B 4 ”; l.r.: “2.5.16 B 4 ”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.47’ ;
1.1.: “49.93 / 2.5.16”; l.r.: “2.5.16”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of Nude Male
Figures [R]; Simmons, 708 [R]

49.93

This outline sketch is for a group, right of center in
Judgment, in which a devil is pulling a victim off the
scale. 1 Detail sketches of the devil who is turned away
from the viewer are seen in 47.

1. McKibbin identified the subject of this drawing (see letter dated
Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, and annotated copy of Gross and
Harithas, Corcoran).

£ 47. Study for a Devil in “Judgment” c. 1895-1910
24-3/8 x 18-3/4 (61.9 x 47.6)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on beige laid paper marked
Ingres / France [watermark]

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “2.5.21”; 1.1.: “D2[?]”; verso, 1.1.: “S.6.49”;
1.1.: “49.76 / 2.5”; l.r.: “2.5.21[?]”

Exhibition: 1955—1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Model — Back
and Arms [R] 1 and cover [R]; Simmons, 709 [R]

49.76

This beautifully modeled view of a back and arm are
detail sketches of one of the figures in 46. 2 A related
drawing is at Boston (28.556).

1. The accession number given with the illustration belongs to
another drawing in the collection; this work is properly listed as
Judgment, Study of the Devil under the Boston Library murals.

2. Identified by McKibbin (see letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James
Harithas, and annotated copy of Gross and Harithas, Corcoran).

48. Two Sketches of Horse’s Head for

“The Fall of Gog and Magog” c. 1895-1910

24-3/8 x 18-7/8 (61.9 x 47.9)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on blue-gray laid paper marked
INGRES / FRANCE [watermark]

Annotation: verso, u.l.: “S.6.164 / 2.1.5”; u.r.: “2.1.5”; l.r.: “49.92”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Perseus on Pegasus Slaying
Medusa, Study of Pegasus; Harithas, p. 65, as Study of Pegasus for
Perseus on Pegasus Slaying Medusa [R]; Simmons, 710 [R]

49.92

.Although formerly published as A Study for Pegasus
in the mural Perseus on Pegasus Slaying Medusa at the
Museum of Fine Arts (1921—1925), I feel that the left
profile of the horse relates to The Fall of Gog and
Magog in the library project. Stylistically the drawing is
closer in handling of line and shade to 49 than it is to
78. The use of light creates an almost spiritual quality,
psychologically appropriate for the earlier project. More¬
over, the paper is of a type Sargent employed at this
time. It must be admitted, though, that the horse head
on the right is suggestive of the horse in the museum’s
Phaeton, but it is possible that Sargent referred back to
some of the drawings he made for the library series
when doing the later murals.

49. Falling Horses, Study for u The Fall of Gog
and Magog” c. 1895-1910

24-3/4 x 18-15/16 (62.9 x 48.1)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked jca France jca

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “2.1.3”; l.r.: “2.1.3”; verso, 1.1.: “49.149 /
2.1.3”; l.r.: “S.6.75 / 2.1.3”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 711 [R]

49.149

Te subject comes from the Book of Revelation
(20.8), in which Gog and Magog are the nations aroused
by Satan to war against God in the conflict that marks
the end of the world. An earlier biblical reference to
Gog and Magog occurs in Ezekial, 39, where they sym¬
bolize Israel’s enemies from the north. Sargent may have
referred to this drawing again when designing the mural
Phaeton for the museum in Boston.

£ 50. Ionic Capital, Study for “The Fall of Gog
and Magog” c. 1895-1910

24-7/8 x 18-15/16 (63.2 x 48.1)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked pca France

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “2.1.13.6”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.157”;

1.1.: “49.107 / 2.1.13”; l.r.: “2.1.13”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Corinthian
Column [R]; Simmons, 712 [R]

49.107

nother drawing of the capital, from a different
angle, is at Boston (28.539).

51. Sketches of Arms and Knee (perhaps early study
for The Fall of Gog and Magog) c. 1891-1895(7)

23-13/16 x 18-5/8 (60.5 x 47.3)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on pale-green laid paper
marked michallet

Inscription: recto, l.r.: “A. Colarossi / 93 Percy R d /

Uxbridge R d ”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “6.6.7”; verso, u.l.: “6/67 / S.6.191”;

1.1.: “6.6.7 / 49.98”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of Model — Arms [R];
Simmons, 713 [R]

49.98

Ihese sketches are probably anatomical studies for or
relating to Gog and Magog, although similar elements
occur in Judgment. Angelo Colarossi, whose name and
address are inscribed on this sheet, was a famous Italian
model who had posed for Carpeaux, Gerome, and Lord
Leighton. He was undoubtedly introduced to Sargent
by Edwin Austin Abbey, a fellow American living in
England, who had employed the Italian and who
shared a studio with Sargent in the early 1890s when
they were both working on mural commissions for the
Boston Public Library. 1 Colarossi reportedly became
Sargent’s model in the autumn of 1891. 2 On the basis of
style, this sketch could well date from this time; how¬
ever, since it is possible that Sargent continued to employ
Colarossi after he moved his studio in 1895, the dating
is tentative.

1. Lucas, Vol. I, p. 207; also see Mount, p. 209.

2. Charteris, p. 117; Lucas, Vol. I, p. 247.

c/>

£ 52. Religious Subject (perhaps early study for
The Glorious Mysteries ) c. 1895—1910

24-3/8 x 13-5/8 (61.9 x 34.6)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on beige laid paper
marked michallet

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “S.a.2”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.13”; 1.1.: “2”;
u.r.: “49.120”; l.r.: “S.a.2

Exhibition: Private World, 143, as Study for a Mural Decoration
Project

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for a Mural Project:
Curtained Off [R]; Simmons, 714 [R]

49.120

^^lthough this scene was not used, its subject and
shape indicate it may have been an early idea for the
outside section of The Glorious Mysteries dealing with
the descent of the Holy Ghost. The movement of the
figures holding crucifixes away from the center would
be appropriate for a design treating the spreading of
Christianity throughout the world.

53. Sketch of a Draped Male Torso (perhaps study
for Angel in The Handmaid of the Lord)
c. 1895-1910

19 x 24-1/2 (48.3 x 62.2)

Charcoal and stump with erasures on gray-green laid paper
marked Ingres 1863 (France) [watermark]

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “4.1.3”; verso, 1.1.: “S.6.100”; l.r.: “49.131”

Exhibition: Private World, 152, as Study for a Mural Decoration
Project

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for a Mural Decoration
Project: Falling Man in Drapery [R]; Simmons, 715 [R]

49.131

Te action and dress of the figure as well as the style
of drawing indicate this sketch was probably connected
with the library murals. In fact, it may be an early study
for the hovering angel on the right in The Handmaid
of the Lord.

£ 54. Male Torso with Pole c. 1890-1900
244/4 x 18-3/4 (61.6 x 47.7)

Charcoal and stump heightened with white chalk on gray-green
laid paper marked Ingres / France [watermark]

Annotation: recto, LI: “6.44”; verso, u.l: “S.6.44”; l.r.: “6.44 /
49.100”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Figure Study [R]; Simmons,
716 [R]

49.100

Te use of white and the treatment of forms argue
an early date for this work, even though it may be a
preliminary study for a devil in Judgment , one of
the late murals.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Rotunda 1916-1921 [ 55 - 69 ]

& 55. Compositional Study for

“Apollo and the Muses” 1917-1920

14-3/4 x 21-15/16 (37.5 x 55.7)

Pencil on pale-yellow laid tracing paper backed with rice paper

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.5.23”; verso, r.c. on backing
paper: “49.84”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 717 [R]

49.84

lhis fully developed outline study differs from the
final mural only in the articulation of forms and in
such details as drapery and hair. The design emphasizes
the linear movement of the frieze-like figures in a
shallow, undefined space. Another treatment of the
subject, scored for transfer, is at Boston (28.913). 1

1. At least five studies for the murals were among the items sold
in 1960 by the Corcoran.

J * 56. Studies of Heads for “Apollo and the Muses”

1917-1920

18-3/4 x 24-3/8 (47.6 x 61.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked canson &
Montgolfier France / Ingres [watermark]

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “204 / 11.5.19”; verso, u.l.: “11.5.19”; 1.1.:
“49.75 / 11.5.19”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Studies of the Head of
Apollo [R]; Ratcliff, p. 146, Pit. 217, as Studies for the Head of
Apollo [R]; Simmons, 718 [R]

49.75

ihe treatment of hair and faces imparts to these
studies a chiselled, sculptural quality and emphasizes
the classical source of Sargent’s forms. For example, the
head of Apollo is derived from one of the most famous
classical statues, the Apollo Belvedere (Vatican). Only
the top three sketches are for Apollo; the two at the
lower right are for the Muses but do not correspond
exactly to heads in the mural. A similar sheet of head
studies is at Boston (28.633) and a related drawing
at Amherst (D1930.12).

57. Standing Male Nude, Apollo, Study for
“Apollo and the Muses” 1917-1920

24-13/16 x 19 (63.1 x 48.2)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Verso: faint charcoal outline (counterproof?) of upper torso and
extended left arm and foot

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “196 / 11.5.1”; verso, 1.1.: “11.5.1”; l.r.:
“49.79 / 11.5.1”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 719 [R]

49.79

This and 58 are variations on the pose for Apollo.
Because of the tilt of the head, which corresponds to the
final version, and the fact that the design is blocked out,
presumably for transfer to another sheet, this sketch
probably was done after 58. The pose is reminiscent of
Augustus of Primaporta (Vatican). 1

1. I am indebted to Adrianne Humphrey for bringing this to
my attention.

58. Draped Standing Male, Apollo, Study for
“Apollo and the Muses” 1917-1920

24-5/8 x 18-5/8 (62.6 x 47.3)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.5.2 / 195”; verso, 1.1.: “11.5.2”; l.r.:
“11.5.2 / 49.87”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 720 [R]

49.87

Tis drawing with specific facial features seems to be
of a model placed in a prearranged position. 1 The more
idealized 57 probably was a sketch in which Sargent
abstracted the pose, perhaps referring to drawings such
as this one and classical sources for ideas.

1. A very similar drawing is at Boston (28.624).

59. Compositional Study for “Classical and
Romantic Art” 1917-1920

144/2 x 21-3/4 (36.8 x 55.1)

Charcoal, stump, and pencil on beige laid paper

Annotation: recto, c.r.: “11.7.17”; l.r.: “49.77”; verso, 1.1:
“B.18.39.”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons 721 [R]

49.77

Ihis drawing was probably done before the sketch at
the Boston Museum which approximates the finished
mural (28.623; see Fig. 15) and after the oval compo¬
sitional study at Yale (1932.40; see Fig. 12). Intermediate
studies of the composition as well as studies of indi¬
vidual figures and details are also at Boston. The subject,
not based on any known myth, deals with a contest,
presided over by Apollo, between Romantic Art as
personified by Orpheus and Pan on the left and Classi¬
cal Art as represented by Athena and a nude female on
the right. The contestants symbolize the opposing
aspects of artistic creativity.

60. Standing Male Nude, Orpheus, Study for
“Classical and Romantic Art” 1917-1920

24-3/4 x 18-7/8 (62.9 x 48)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “84 / 11.7.3”; verso, 1.1.: “49.73 / 11.7.3”;
c.r.: “11.7.3”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 722 [R]

49.73

This may be a study of Tom McKellar, the black
elevator operator at the Copley-Plaza, whom Sargent
used as this time (see 71, 74). 1 In the final version
Orpheus’ face is turned more toward the viewer. A
related drawing is at Boston (28.632).

1. Mount, p. 371.

& 61. Four Studies for “Classical and Romantic Art”
1917-1920

18-3/4 x 24-1/2 (47.7 x 62.3)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
canson & Montgolfier France / Ingres [watermark]

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.7.5 / 186”; verso, u.l.: “49.116” 1.1.:
“11.7.5”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Sketches: Sun Dial , Lion’s
Head, Model’s Arm and Leg [R]; Simmons, 723 [R]

49.116

Te left leg and right arm with wreath are studies for
Apollo; the feline head below, for the leopard; and the
implement is for the tripod on which Apollo sits. These
sketches display Sargent’s concern for working out
details; they probably were executed after the Corcoran’s
compositional study (59), in which elements such as
the leopard and wreath do not appear.

£ 63. Draped Female Figure Gazing Upward,

Preliminary Study for “Astronomy” 1921 (?)

18-7/8 x 24-7/8 (48 x 63.2)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
l. berville (france) / Lalanne

Inscription: recto, u.r.: “Sagittarius—Scorpio—Libra / Leo—
Cancer—Gemini”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.3 / 210”; verso, 1.1.: “11.3.1 / 49.256”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Draped Figure Gazing at
Stars; Simmons, 725 [R]

49.256

& 62. Seated Male Figure, Preliminary Study for
“Astronomy” 1921 (?)

18-13/16 x 24-3/4 (47.8 x 62.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.3.6 / 173”; verso, u.L: “11.3.6 / 49.194”;
1.1.: “11.3.6”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Musuem of Fine
Arts Decorations—Negro Model [R]; Simmons, 724 [R]

49.194

Ihis draped female version, presumably scored for
transfer and presented as a tondo, probably was de¬
signed after the sketch from the male model in 62. A
similar drawing is at Amherst (D1933.12). The inscrip¬
tions suggest that Sargent may have at this point con¬
sidered introducing allusions to the signs of the zodiac
which occur in the final version.

Drawings 62—64 are preliminary studies for one of the
small round murals in the rotunda. Another related
drawing of the same model (perhaps McKellar) in a
similar pose, only seen from the other side, is at Boston
(21.2471). Although it is difficult to establish the chro¬
nology of these drawings, it is interesting to see how
Sargent’s idea changed before he settled on the final
conception, in which Astronomy is personified as a very
muscular woman, seen from the left and nude to the
waist, the signs of the zodiac behind her. It is likely that
Sargent worked on this subject upon his return to
Boston early in 1921, at which time he painted the
tondos for the rotunda. 1

1. Mount, p. 379; also see A. K., “A Few Summer Reminiscences
on John Singer Sargent,” Artgum , Nov. 1925, 4 (No. 1): 17-18.

& 64. Two Female Figures, Preliminary Studies
for “Astronomy” 1921 (?)

18-7/8 x 24-7/8 (48 x 63.2)

Pencil, charcoal, and stump with erasures on beige laid paper
marked l. berville (france) / Lalanne

Inscription: recto, u.r.: “Tuesday after — / 26th”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “11.3.8 / 213”; verso, u.L: “11.3.8”; 1.1.:
“11.3.8”; l.r.: “49.125”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Museum of Fine
Arts Decorations [R]; Simmons, 726 [R]

49.125

These two sketches were undoubtedly done about the
same time as 63, since they share a circular format.
However, as fanciful explorations of the theme removed
from the pose struck by the model in 62, they may well
have been executed after Sargent decided against that
design.

65. Studies of Aphrodite for “Aphrodite and Eros”

1917-1919

2443/16 x 184/4 (63 x 47.6)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
L. berville (france) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “14 / 10.4.1”; verso, 1.1: “10.4.1”; l.r.:
“10.4.1 / 49.118”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Model;

Simmons, 727 [R]

49.118

more fully realized drawing of the same figure with
two sketches of the left hand is at Boston (28.620) d
In addition to mural paintings, Sargent designed and
executed a number of relief sculptures, including
Aphrodite and Eros, for the rotunda and staircase (see
66—69, 79-80). The rotunda reliefs were all installed by
July 1920, but they probably were designed if not
executed by 1919. 2

1. Other drawings for the relief are also at Boston along with a
number of preliminary sketches.

2. Mount, p. 371.

66. Two Female Figures, Studies for
“Dancing Figures” 1917-1919

244/4 x 184/4 (62.9 x 47,7)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked l. berville
(france) / Lalanne

Inscription: recto, u.l.: “Lilian White”; u.r.: “Grasshof”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “10.2.3 7”; verso, u.l.: “49.188”; 1.1.:
“10.2.3”; l.r.: “1044”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of Lillian White for
“The Three Graces” [R]; Simmons, 728 [R]

49.188

Previously published as a Study of Lillian White for
“The Three Graces,” this sheet actually is a study for
another relief in the rotunda identified only as Dancing
Figures. It has been assumed from the inscription that
the model is Lilian White, who with her sister Gladys
posed for Sargent; however, the name of another
model—Doris Grasshof—also appears on the sheet. 1
Miss Grasshof’s full name and address occur on a very
similar sketch at Philadelphia (29.182.10) and that of
Louise Riddell, yet another model, on a related drawing
at the Fogg Museum (1929.287). 2

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, from David McKibbin to James
Harithas, Corcoran. McKibbin notes that a related work is at
Wellesley, and suggests these three women may have been the
“Follies” girls Sargent used (see 72). Another drawing of White,
formerly in the Corcoran collection, was sold; its whereabouts are
unknown.

2. Additional studies for the relief are at Boston and Yale.

67. Seated Male Nude, Study for Figural Relief
over “Music” 1917-1919

18-3/4 x 24-13/16 (47.6 x 63.1)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked l. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “10.9.6”; verso, 1.1.: “10.9.6 / 49.94”;
u.r.: “S.4.43”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Museum of Fine
Arts Decorations—Nude Male Figure [R]; Simmons, 729 [R]
49.94

lairs of nude male figures are part of the sculptural
decoration in the rotunda of the museum (see 68). This
particular sketch is for the group above the tondo
Music . A more fully realized study for the same figure
is at Boston (21.2499).

68. Seated Male Nude, Preliminary Study
for Relief Figure 1917-1919

1845/16 x 24-3/4 (48.1 x 62.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked l. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “10.9.10 100”; verso, 1.1.: “10.9.10 / 49.81 /
49.81”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Museum of Fine
Arts Decorations—Male Torso [JR]; Simmons, 730 [R]

49.81

Although this figure does not correspond to a partic¬
ular element in the decorations of the rotunda, there
can be little doubt that it served as a preliminary study
for one of the sculptured figures. Drawings of this type
are in several public collections. 1

1. Boston, Chicago, Fogg, Gardner Museum.

69. Seated Male Nude with Raised Arms

(perhaps early study for Arion) 1917-1919

18-7/8 x 24-3/4 (47.9 x 62.8)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, Lr.s “88 / 10.7.1”; verso, u.l.: “I”; 1.1.:

“10.7.1 / 49.89”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Museum of Fine
Arts Decorations—Seated Nude [R]; Simmons, 731 [R]

49.89

ihis particular work may be a preliminary study for
Arion, a low-relief decorative element under the tondo
Astronomy in the rotunda. 1 However, the final concep¬
tion of Arion as a nude youth, astride a dolphin, is
quite different from this. Although the arms in both are
raised (here presumably to hold or play the violin
included in Arion), their positions are different. Since
a similar gesture and instrument appear in the mural
Music in the rotunda, it is possible that this sketch was
preliminary to both subjects.

1. A related study for the same figure in a slightly different pose
is at Boston (21.2514), where it is identified as a study for Arion.

70. Running Male Nude, Apollo, Study for
“Apollo and Daphne” 1918-1920

25 x 1843/16 (63.5 x 47.8)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
l. berville (france) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “115 / 12.14.7”; verso, l.r.: “49.126”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Scale Drawing of an Upright
Running Figure; Simmons, 732 [R]

49.126

Scored for transfer, this drawing is a study for the oil
painting A polio and Daphne at the Corcoran (49.133).
The subject was originally intended for the rotunda. A
preliminary drawing for the composition in a 1918
sketchbook at the Fogg (1937.7.33) helps establish a
terminus a quo for this sheet. 1 The painting documents
Sargent’s practice of doing a small version in oil as a
step toward the final mural. That the conception owes
a considerable debt to Bernini’s A polio and Daphne in
the Villa Borghese is obvious. A related drawing of a
partially draped Apollo, formerly in the Corcoran col¬
lection, is now at the Metropolitan (1973.267.1). 2

1. There is also a sheet of preliminary sketches for the composition
at Boston (28.795).

2. Another drawing of the two figures was also once in the
Corcoran collection; its present whereabouts are not known.

71. Standing Male Nude 1918-1920
2445/16 x 18-7/8 (63.4 x 48)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(france) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “119 / 12.14.1”; verso, 1.1.: “49.82”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for Museum of Fine
Arts Decorations—Nude Male [R]; Simmons, 733 [R]

49.82

.Although not a study for Apollo and Daphne , this
drawing probably was done at the same time as 70. The
upper body and arms bear a close resemblance to the
figure of Daphne; in the painting the right leg crosses in
front of the left. Drawings of the same figure in similar
poses are at Philadelphia (29.182.12), where the model
is said to be Tom McKellar (see 60 and 74), and at
Worcester (1930.8). 1 In the Worcester sketch the left
leg crosses behind the right; scored for transfer, it could
well be a study for Daphne in the Corcoran oil.

1. A related drawing is at Mt. Holyoke (Ib.RIV.4.1930).

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, stairway and library, 1921-1925 [72-81]

72. Two Female Figures, Study for “The Danaides”
1922-1924

18-15/16 x 24-1/2 (48 x 62.2)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
INGRES

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “12.1.5”; verso, 1.1.: “12.1.5 / S.5.187”;
l.r.: “49.122”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 734 [R]

49.122

Ihe mural for which this is a study is over the
entrance to the library at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Surmounting Philosophy, The Unveiling of Truth, and
Science, The Danaides shows a series of women repre¬
senting the many sources of wisdom endlessly replenish¬
ing the fountain of knowledge. The figures depicted
here appear at either end of the mural, rather than in
sequence. 1 The models were reportedly from the
Ziegfield Follies. 2

1. Numerous sketches for the composition and figures are at
Boston. There is also a drawing at Philadelphia (29.182.2) and
one at Amherst (D1930.7). Amherst also owns an oil study for
the entire composition (P1933.32).

2. McKibbin, p. 53; also see 66, n. 1.

73. Seated Male, Study for “Philosophy”
1922-1924

24-13/16 x 19 (63.1 x 48.3)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “12.2.2”; verso, u.l.: “S.5.352[?]”; 1.1.:
“12.2.2 / 49.91”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Doreen Bolger Burke,
American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New
York: Metropolitan, 1980), Vol. Ill, p. 272; Ratcliff, p. 151, Pit.
227 [R]; Simmons, 735 [R]

49.91

Ihe mural shows a partially draped male seated with
his left hand to his chin, his right on his hip, rather
than the reverse as seen here. Since studies for
Philosophy in other public collections 1 present a figure
in the same pose as the mural, the Corcoran drawing
probably represents an early stage in the development
of the composition. The pose owes a great deal to
Thalie y one of the single-figure murals at the Paris
Opera. Sargent owned a copy of the illustrations for
that massive decorative project and referred to them in
the course of working on the museum murals. 2

1. Boston (28.648, 28.804), Philadelphia (29.182.9), Fogg Museum.

2. A.K., “A Few Summer Reminiscences on John Singer Sargent,”
Artgum, Nov. 1925, 4(No. 1): 17.

£ 74. Kneeling Male Nude, Two Studies for

‘The Unveiling of Truth” 1922-1924

19 X 24-3/4 (48.2 x 62.8)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “12.3.4”; verso, 1.1.: “S.5.165 / 12.3.4 /
49.83”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 736 [R]

49.83

David McKibbin suggested that the model was Tom
McKellar 1 (see also 60 and 71). This particular sheet
offers an interesting example of how Sargent would use
a live model and then sketch an element such as the
back of a head, clearly not from life, which emphasizes
the decorative nature of the design and alludes to
antique sculptural sources. In the final version the
kneeling figure is reversed. A drawing of the full com¬
position bears the notation that it is to be reversed
(Museum of Fine Arts, 28.645). 2

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, and annotated
copy of Gross and Harithas, Corcoran.

2. There are a number of preliminary sketches at Boston including
one of the kneeling figure (28.696). One drawing for the mural
was sold by the Corcoran in 1960. An intermediate oil in the
shape of a lunette, with the kneeling figure in the position
presented in the Corcoran drawing, is at the Fogg Museum; it is
misidentified in Ratcliff, p. 134, Pit. 190. The shape raises the
possibility that Sargent intended this design for some other space,
perhaps the spot now occupied by The Danaides.

75. Draped Figure, Study for Boreas [North Wind]
in “The Winds” 1922-1924

18-7/8 x 2441/16 (47.9 x 62.7)

Charcoal and stump on cream laid paper marked Ingres
[watermark] / canson & Montgolfier France

Annotation: verso, u.r.: “S.5.89 / 49.97”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 737 [R]

49.97

In The Winds , the ceiling decoration at the top of the
main staircase, winged Boreas is covered with dark
drapery and plunges violently downward as if coming
from the north. Other drawings of Boreas are
at the Boston Museum (28.655, 28.659), and related
sketches are at the Fogg (1929.295) and Yale (1932.29). 1

1. Several other drawings relating to the mural were part of the
original gift to the Corcoran; but at least four were sold in 1960,
and their whereabouts are not known. There are other sketches
for the mural at Boston.

76. Four Studies for Notus [South Wind]
in “The Winds” 1922-1924

18-7/8 x 24-5/8 (47.9 x 62.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked Ingres
[watermark] / canson & Montgolfier France

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “12.6.11”; verso, 1.1.: “49.86”; u.r.: “S.5.65”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 738 [R]

49.86

Tjhe design on the left corresponds closely to the final
pose of Notus. In the mural he is depicted as a winged,
youthful figure pouring water from an inverted jar, an
allusion to the south wind as a rain-bringer.

77. Male Nude, Phaeton, Study for “Phaeton”
1922-1924

20-1/8 x 15-5/8 (51.1 x 39.7)

Pencil with charcoal or crayon and stump on yellow-brown
tracing paper

Annotation: recto, u.r.: “B 18[?].58”; verso, u.l.: “49.85”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 739 [R]

49.85

tA drawing with the same figure in reverse is at
Boston (29.684) , as are anatomical studies (28.685).

78. Two Horse Heads, Studies for “Apollo in
His Chariot with the Hours” 1922-1924

16-9/16 x 214/16 (42.1 x 53.5)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked o.w.R. & a.c.l.
Annotation: recto, l.r.: “10.5.18”; verso, u.r.: “S.599”; l.r.: “49.90”
Exhibition: Private World, 151 [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Stebbins, pp. 215-216, Fig.
176 [R], Simmons, 740 [R]

49.90

While the composition of the entire decoration owes
a clear debt to Guido Reni’s ceiling fresco Aurora at the
Casino Rospigliosi, Rome, 1 these studies of a horse’s
head were probably drawn from a sculpture, perhaps
the Head of the Horse of Selene, part of the Parthenon
marbles at the British Museum.

1. See Ormond, p. 94, for mention of Sargent’s sources for the
muesum murals. At least one detail study for the mural was sold
by the Corcoran in 1960.

& 79. Male Nude, Achilles, Studies for

“Chiron and Achilles” 1922—1924(?)

18-3/4 x 24-3/4 (47.6 x 62.8)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “28 / 10.B.A.”; verso, 1.1.: “10.8.4”;
l.r.: “49.78”

Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 741 [R]

49.78

Ihe subject of Achilles and Chiron appears twice in
almost identical compositions in the museum decora¬
tions: first as a relief in the rotunda and then as a mural
in the stairway hall. While the drawing could have
been made at the time of the earlier treatment, the
angle of the body and the detail of the arm reveal a
closer connection to the second project. Stylistically this
drawing is close to 80, which is done on similar paper.

A related study of Achilles, perhaps for the earlier
version, 1 is at Yale (1932.37).

1. Since the Yale drawing is done on Berville paper, it is likely
that it was executed in connection with the relief. A study similar
to the Corcoran’s at Boston (21.2.473) was, as the accession
number indicates, clearly a study for the earlier treatment; it is
also on different paper. Boston has other related drawings for the
relief, as well as hand studies and an overall design (28.681) for
the stairway group.

80. Three Studies of Male Anatomy for
Staircase Reliefs 1922-1924

18-7/8 x 24-15/16 (48 x 63.4)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /

FRANCE

Annotation: recto, u.l.: “13.2.5”; verso, u.l.: “13.2.5”; 1.1.: “49.121”;
u.r.: “S.5.209 / 13.2.5”; l.r.: “13.2.5”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Model—Back and
Arms; Simmons, 742 [R]

49.121

Ihese sketches are studies for two reliefs on the
museum’s main staircase depicting youths entwined
with garlands. The torso and arms in both reliefs appear
to be identical, except that the figures are inverted.
Similar drawings are at Boston (28.691, 28.698). 1

1. A charcoal drawing of a back also at Boston (28.552) seems
related to one of these studies rather than to Heaven as
catalogued; a similar detail is 28.692.

& 81. Two Studies of Hurdlers for Staircase Reliefs
1922-1924

1845/16 x 2445/16 (48.1 x 63.3)

Pencil and carbon tracing on cream laid paper marked
l. berville (france) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, u.l.: “18”; 1.1.: “S.12”; l.r.: “13.4.8”; 1.1.:
“13.4.8”; l.r.: “49.251”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Tracing of Athletes;
Simmons, 743 [R]

49.251

I he identical relief appears twice, diagonally on op¬
posite sides of the staircase. The six reliefs appearing on
the staircase (see 80) display young men as athletes or
in graceful configurations and have no apparent thema¬
tic connection with the mythological and allegorical
subjects treated in the murals. It is difficult to determine
if the lower image is an enlargement of the top, or the
top a reduction of the bottom, both being scored.

82. Sketch of a Draped Female Figure, Lower Half
1917-1924

1843/16 x 24-3/8 (47.8 x 62)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /

FRANCE

Annotation: recto, u.L: “12.6.10”; verso, u.l.: “49.232”; 1.1.:

“S.5.40 / 12.12.10”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Draped Model;
Harithas, pp. 64, 69 [R], as Study of a Draped Model; Simmons,
744 [R]

49.232

Drapery studies of this sort could have been made for
either phase of the museum project. Although the
peculiar angle of this sketch which makes the figure
float in space suggests that it may be related to the
Furies in the Orestes mural or perhaps even to the
Widener Library project (see 105), the connection is
too tenuous to justify a positive association; thus, a time
span covering most of the period has been assigned.

At the end of June 1918 Sargent went to the Western
Front at the request of Lloyd George to gather material
for a painting dealing with British and American co¬
operation. The recto image is one of several sketches of
American troops made during that critical summer and
early fall, 1 which saw the failure of the last major Ger¬
man offensive and the advance of Allied troops. The
subject of America’s participation in the war was later
commemorated in the murals for the Widener Library;
studies such as this may have had an impact on Sar¬
gent’s conception of The Coming of the Americans to
Europe (see 104).

Uncovered during conservation, the small verso
sketch is certainly a study for The Road (Boston,
19.759), whose somber air and cluttered composition
effectively express the confusion of troop movements on
the front. In a letter from France, Sargent judged a “big
road encumbered with troops and traffic” as one of the
few sights he had seen suitable for a major work. He
added: “I daresay the latter [the road], combining Eng¬
lish and Americans, is the best thing to do, if it can be
prevented from looking like going ‘to the Derby.’ ” 2

1. A related drawing, inscribed “Americans,” is at Boston
(28.938); see also the sketchbook at the Fogg Museum (1937.7.33).

2. Letter to Evan Charteris, Sept. 11, 1918, quoted in Charteris,
p. 214.

83. Four Sketches of American Soldiers 1918

10 x 14-1/2 (25.4 x 36.8)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Verso: Two Shattered Trees and Compositional Study for ‘The
Road”

Inscription: recto, l.r.: “American”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S.35”; verso, l.r.: “49.128”

Exhibition: Royal Academy, 1926, 221, as American Tommies

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Studies of Models in
American Battle Dress [R]; Simmons, 745 [R,V]

49.128

jt 84. Sketch of a Motorcycle

(possibly study for The Road ) 1918

74/16 x 54/8 (17.9 x 13)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Inscription: recto, u.L: “at Peronne Oct-1918 . . . this much
longer”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 24a”; u.L: “49.103a”

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 267, along with 49.103b (85);
Private World , 158, as Study of a Bicycle

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Motorcycle for
“The Road ” [JR]; Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr., American Drawings (New
York: Shorewood, [1965], Fig. 6 [R], mistakenly identified as
Bike with Description (see 85); Simmons, 746 [R]

49.103a

T his drawing or 85 probably served as a study for the
motorcycle in the right foreground of The Road .
Peronne is a town in France to the east of Amiens.

85. Sketch of a Motorcycle with Shadow
( possibly study for The Road) 1918

74/16x54/8 (17.9 x 13)

Pencil on cream wove paper
Verso: Outline of Motorcycle

Inscription: recto, u.c.: “blue reflection, along handle”; u.L: “light”
u.r.: “light”; 1.1.: “Peronne Oct. / 1918”

Annotation: recto, l.L: “J.S.24”; verso, l.c.: “49.103b”

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 267, along with 49.103a (84)

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Bike with Description;
Simmons, 747 [R,V]

49.103b

This is a variation on the motorcycle in 84.

& 86. Sketches of Three Covered Trucks 1918

10 x 144/2 (25.4 x 36.8)

Pencil with fixative (?) on beige wove paper

Verso: Devastated Landscape

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 43”; verso, l.r.: “49.139”

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 255, as Motor Lorries

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Covered Trucks; Harithas,
p. 66, as Covered Trucks [R]; Simmons, 748 [R,V]

49.139

Tis may be from the same sketchbook as 87 and 89.
The difference in color between this sheet and the
others is perhaps due to the application of a wash or
fixative to the present work.

i u
i s:

£ 87. Soldiers in a Devastated Landscape 1918

10 x 14-5/16 (25.4 x 36.4)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Verso: Devastated Trees

Inscription: recto, l.r.: [“Bailleul?] Sept. / 1918”

Annotation: recto, l.L: “J.S.326”; verso, l.r.: “49.142”

Exhibition: Private World, 157, as Study of Devastated Trees,
France 1918 [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of Devastated Trees,
France 1918 [R]; Simmons, 749 [R,V]

49.142

lhe war-torn countryside of northern France with its
shattered and charred trees figures prominently in the
sketches Sargent made on the front (also see 83 and
86). Here he untypically employs silhouetted forms to
create a patterning effect; the resulting sharp flat shapes
have a particularly modern flavor. In September Sargent

depicted a similar scene near Ypres (Metropolitan,

50. 130. 138a). Made about the same time, this sketch
may have been of the nearby town of Bailleul, not far
from the Belgian border and Ypres. 1

1. Mount, p. 358.

100

88. Cannon Trailers, France 1918

74/4 x 1445/16 (18.4 x 36.3)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.L: “J.S. 16”; verso, u.l.: “49403”; l.r.: “49.114’

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 269, as A Gun Carriage;

Private World, 159

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 750 [R]

49.114

89. Gun Carriages, France 1918

10 x 14-3/8 (25.4 x 36.5)

Pencil on cream wove paper
Inscription: recto, on engine: “5803”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S.58[?]”; l.r.: “49.143”; verso, u.l.:
“5845”; l.r.: “49.143”

Bibliography: Charteris, opp. p. 214, as Artillery on the March
[R]; Gross and Harithas; Simmons, 751 [R]

49.143

.Although these studies are not recognizable in The
Road , the procession of war vehicles displayed here is
integral to the painting’s composition and could well
have been the catalyst for the oil. “A train of trucks
packed with ‘chair a cannon’ ” was one of the few sub¬
jects Sargent found suitable for a major work . 1 Henry
Tonks, an artist who accompanied him to France, re¬
marked about Sargent’s pencil drawing of a traction
engine, perhaps the one at the top of the sheet: he “put
[it] in as rapidly as the pencil would move and ap¬
parently quite correct.... This is one of the qualities
of a great artist. ...” 2

1. Charteris, p. 214.

2. Lomax and Ormond, p. 89.

101

90. Man Pulling a Horse into a Stall 1918

10 x 14-7/16 (25.4 x 36.6)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S.89”; verso, u.l.: “49.112”
Bibliography: Gross and Harithas [R]; Simmons, 752 [R]
49.112

Undoubtedly done around the same time as 91 and
92, this sketch, despite its quickness of execution, has a
compositional integrity and tonal sophistication that
suggest Sargent may have toyed with the idea of trans¬
lating it into another medium, either watercolor or oil

(see 91).

102

Ihis sketch has been illustrated with 49.167b as if
it were the verso of 92, the double sheet containing
49.167c—d, and has been identified with those drawings
as Studies for “Shoeing Cavalry Horses at the Front ”
Sargent did paint the subject of shoeing horses, and
presumably this and 92 (recto and verso), linked stylis¬
tically and thematically, were at an early date associated
with that work. 1 In the case of this separate sheet, un¬
doubtedly another page from the same sketchbook, the
activity is grooming rather than shoeing, and the left
figure as well as the detail of the hand with brush and
the stance of the right horse on the left appears in the
watercolor Scots Grey at the Imperial War Museum
(1608). A similar study is at the Fogg (1937.8.93).

1. A pencil drawing called Shoeing Horses (263) was exhibited at
the Sargent memorial exhibition in 1926 at the Royal Academy.
This sheet may have been placed together with 49.167b in the
same frame at that time.

91. Studies for “Scots GREY ,, 1918

7-1/16 X 9-15/16 (17.9 x 25.2)

Pencil on beige wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S.45”; verso, 1.1.: “49.167a”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, with 92 (recto and verso) as
Studies for “Shoeing Cavalry Horses at the Front”; Harithas,
p. 74, with 92 verso as Studies for “Shoeing Cavalry Horses at
the Front” [R]; Simmons, 753 [R]

49.167a

103

92. Four Sketches of Horses and Groom and

Two Sketches of a Groom with Horse 1918

74/6 X 204/16 (17.9 x 51)

Pencil on beige wove paper
Verso: Man Shoeing (?) Horse

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “49.167c”; verso, 1.1.: “49.1674 ; l.c.:
“J.S.45a”; l.r.: “49.167b”

Exhibition: ?Royal Academy, 1926, 263, as Shoeing Horses

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, with 91, as Studies of “Shoeing
Cavalry Horses at the Front”; Harithas, p. 75, as Studies for
“Shoeing Cavalry Horses at the Front ” [JR]; Simmons, 754 [R,V]

49.167c,d (recto); 49.167b (verso)

These sketches have been published as Studies of
“Shoeing Cavalry Horses at the Front” (see 91). The
activity depicted is grooming—and, on the verso, prob¬
ably cleaning a hoof—rather than shoeing.

tr/it *

Studies for Gassed, Imperial War Museum, London, 1918-1919 [93-99]

je 93, Study of Two Soldiers for “Gassed” over
Sketch of Nude 1918-1919

18-7/8 x 24-1/2 (48 x 62.3)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
MICHALLET / FRANCE

Verso: Sketches of Rear View of Male Nude and,an Arm (char¬
coal)

Annotation: recto, u.l.: “49.208A”; l.r.: “17.2.3 Rev. S.4.47”;
verso, u.l.: “49.208 B”; 1.1.: “49.208”; l.r.: “17.2.3”; u.r.: “S.4.47”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for “ Gassed [R];
Simmons, 755 [R,V]

49.208a (recto); 49.208b (verso)

D rawings 93-99 are studies for the monumental oil
Gassed in the Imperial War Museum, 1 a moving com¬
mentary on the ravage wreaked by the war on Britain’s
youth. The catalyst for the painting was what Sargent

)

106

described as “a harrowing sight, a field full of gassed
and blindfolded men ..., ” 2 the aftermath of an attack
on Courcelles on August 21, 1918, in which the 99th
Brigade of the 2nd Division and the 8th Brigade of the
3rd were subjected to gas warfare.

The format of these charcoal drawings, as well as the
sketches of a male nude, indicates that these were done
in Sargent’s studio, 3 inspired by pen and pencil sketches
made at the front. 4 The impact of this particular group,
which appears in the lower left foreground of the
finished work, is not diminished by its being a studio
drawing.

1. Twelve drawings for Gassed are also on loan there. Three works
once at the Corcoran were disposed of in 1960 and 1961.

2. Charteris, p. 214.

3. See Ormond, pp. 258-259, Pits. 122-124.

4. Charteris, p. 212.

94. Two Studies of Soldiers for “Gassed”

1918-1919

18-5/8 x 244/4 (47.3 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /

FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 314”; verso, l.r.: “49.117”

Exhibition: Grand Central Art Galleries, 1928, as Sketch for
“ Gassed ” [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Studies of Soldiers: Wounded
Lying in Pain [R]; Simmons, 756 [R]

49.117

The figures here appear in the final composition to
the left of the group depicted in 93.

107

95. Three Studies of Soldiers for “Gassed”
1918-1919

18-11/16 x 24-1/4 (47.5x61.5)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
MICHALLET / FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “JLS. 311”; verso, l.r.: “49.215”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for “Gassed”; Harithas,
p. 68, as Study for “Gassed” [R]; Simmons, 757 [R]

49.215

he upper two figures appear in the central fore¬
ground of the painting; the lower one, at the far right.

96. Two Studies of Soldiers for “Gassed”

1918-1919

18-5/8 x 24-7/16 (47.3 x 62.1)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Verso: Sketch of Falling Male Nude (charcoal)

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “17.2”; verso, u.l.: “49.123”; u.r.: “17.2.1”
Exhibition: 1955-1970

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Two Soldiers [R]; Simmons,
758 [R,V]

49.123

Tie figure at the left is the last soldier on the left in
file; the one on the right is toward the front of the line.
The verso sketch was probably done in conjunction with
the museum mural project.

97. Two Soldiers and an Officer with Five Views
of a Hand, Studies for “Gassed” 1918-1919

1841/16 x 24-1/4 (47.4 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S.308”; verso, l.r.: “49.134”

Exhibition: Grand Central Art Galleries, 1928, as Details for
Gassed [R]

Bibliography: Birnbaum, opp. p. 61 [R]; Gross and Harithas [R];
Simmons, 759 [R,V]

49.134

Ihe group on the left appears at the head of the
second column of soldiers in the right middle distance
of Gassed. A related work is on loan to the War
Museum. The sketch of the head of a man with his
hand to his blindfolded eyes is a detail study for one of
the soldiers in 93. The two hand studies in the upper
center are for the soldier in the front of the file in the
foreground; the two along the right were used in the
fallen figure whose leg is on the boardwalk.

110

98. Heads, Hands, and Figure, Studies for “Gassed”
1918-1919

18-5/8 x 24-1/4 (47.3 x 61.6)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 309”; verso, 1.1.: “49.105”

Exhibition: Grand Central Art Galleries, 1928, as Details for
“Gassed” [R]

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study for “Gassed”:
Bandaged Head and Injured Hands [R]; Simmons, 760 [R]

49.105

Th,

Lhe helmeted head and the one to its left are both
studies for soldiers in the foreground column. The
hands, the figure, and the two similar heads appear in
the center foreground (a related drawing for the figure
is on loan to the War Museum). The other two blind¬
folded heads are studies for fallen soldiers.

99. Six Head Studies for “Gassed” 1918-1919
18-5/8 x 24-1/8 (47.3 x 61.3)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /

FRANCE

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 307”; verso, u.l.: “49.106”
Exhibition: Grand Central Art Galleries, 1928

Bibliography: Flint; Gross and Harithas, as Views of Blindfolded
Man’s Head [R]; Simmons, 761 [R]

49.106

T h

he rhythm and symmetry of these particular sketches
add to their poignancy. In an essay for the exhibition at
Grand Central Art Galleries, Ralph Flint must have
had this particular drawing in mind when he remarked:
“He set down on one page a set of soldiers with
bandaged eyes that is easily one of his most stirring
performances.”

Ill

Studies for General Officers of World War I, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1920-1922

[100-103]

112

& 100. Portrait of Field Marshall Sir John French,
First Earl of Ypres, Study for “General
Officers of World War I” 1920-1922

24-1/4 x 184/2 (61.6 x 47)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /France

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “6.58”; verso, u.l.: “S.6.58”; l.r.: “49.109”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Head of an Elderly Man [R];
Simmons, 762 [R]

49.109

David McKibbin first identified the subject and as¬
sociated it with the large canvas at the National Portrait
Gallery, London, which includes portraits of twenty-
two generals. 1 Sir John French (1852—1925) appears just
to the right of center in the painting, which was com¬
missioned by Sir Abe Bailey for presentation to the
Portrait Gallery. Two other artists (Arthur Cope and
James Gutherie) were commissioned to do comparable
portraits of admirals and statesmen. An oil study of Sir
John by Sargent is also at the gallery, as are seventeen
drawings for General Officers. From 1914 to 1915
French was the Commander in Chief of the British
Expeditionary Forces in France and subsequently Com¬
mander in Chief of Home Forces.

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, and annotated
Gross and Harithas, Corcoran. Two other related drawings were
sold by the Corcoran in 1960.

, ;A

}

101. Standing Officer (Louis Botha), for “General
Officers of World War I” 1920-1922

12-7/16 x 8-15/16 (31.6 x 22.7)

Pencil on cream wove paper

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “J.S. 80”; verso, l.r.: “49.136”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Standing Officer; Harithas,
p. 70, as Standing Officer [R]; Simmons, 763 [R]

49.136

Tie drawing is of a model rather than of Louis Botha,
who died in 1919. Prime Minister of the Union of
South Africa until his death, Botha was in charge of the
forces that conquered the German colony of South
West Africa. He appears third from the left in the
painting.

113

) . w

102. Three Figure Studies for “General Officers
of World War I” 1920-1922

18-9/16 x 24-3/8 (47.2 x 61.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked michallet /
FRANCE

Inscription: recto, 1.1.: “Luigi di Luca-73 Draycott Ave. / S.W.”

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “6.63”; l.r.': “17.1.2”; verso, u.l.: “17.2 /
49.226”; 1.1.: “17.2”; u.r.: “S.6.63”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as The Generals; Simmons,
764 [R]

49.226

Ihe inscription probably refers to the model. 1 The
three poses are reminiscent of several appearing in the
final work, especially those of Generals Byng and Horne
(fourth and eighth from left), Haig and French (center
and right of center), and Birdwood (far left) and
Plumer (left of center). It appears that Sargent used
several basic poses with slight variations in the final
composition.

1. A drawing of a slightly truncated, full-length figure at the
Portrait Gallery, London (2908.16) is a related sketch.

114

103. Two Figure Studies for “General Officers of
World War I” 1920-1922

18-7/8 x 22-11/16 (48 x 57.6)

Charcoal and stump with pencil on beige laid paper marked
MICHALLET / FRANCE

Verso: Sketch of Drapery (charcoal and stump with erasures)

Annotation: recto, 1.1.: “S.39 / B39[?]”; l.r.: “17.1.3”; verso,
u.l.: “49.135”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Two Standing Officers;
Harithas, p. 72, as Two Standing Officers; Simmons, 765 [R,V]

49.135

Tdiese are probably figure studies for Generals Plumer
and Haig, to the left and right of center. In the final
painting Plumer carries his gloves with the left hand,
his hat with the right, and Haig’s breast strap crosses
from upper left to lower right.

Probably executed about the same time as the figure
studies, the verso sketch may have been a preliminary
idea for one of the two murals at the Widener Library
memorializing the Harvard men who died in World
War I (see 104, 105). The gesture is in keeping with
the subject and tone of those murals.

115

Harvard University, Widener Library 1920-1922 [104-105]

104. Studies of a Head for “The Coming of the
Americans to Europe” 1920-1922

18-3/4 x 24-5/8 (47.7 x 62.5)-

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked canson &
Montgolfier France / Ingres [watermark]

Inscription: recto, 1.1.: “Mr Harry Bloom / 39 Hollander St. /
Roxbury-tel 4952M Roxbury”

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “54 / 16.1.5”; verso, u.L: “16.1.5”; 1.1.:
“16.1.5 / 6”; l.r.: “49.127”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Studies of a Model for
Widener Library Decorations [R]; Simmons, 766 [R]

49.127

Ihese studies are for the mural in the Widener
Library, Harvard, on the right as one ascends the stair¬
case. 1 The subject of the American soldiers' arrival in
France during World War I was one Sargent explored
shortly after his visit to the front. 2 In the Widener com¬
mission, a memorial for the Harvard men who died in
the war, Sargent returned to the theme, treating it in an
allegorical fashion. The same face recurring again and
again emphasizes the common cause uniting the endless
stream of noble American youths. McKibbin identified
“Harry Bloom” as the chauffeur of Sargent's Boston
cousin Mrs. Richard Hale. 3

1. Many drawings relating to the two Widener murals are at
the Fogg.

2. Charteris, p. 213, mentions the painting; it is clear from the
description that the subject was treated naturalistically.

3. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, Corcoran.

116

& 105. Female Nude, Study for Victory in “Death
and Victory” 1920-1922

24-7/8 x 18-7/8 (63.2 x 47.9)

Charcoal and stump on beige laid paper marked L. berville
(France) / Lalanne

Annotation: recto, l.r.: “16.2.1 18”; verso, u.l.: “49.108”; 1.1.:
“16.2.1 / 9”; l.r.: “16.2.1”

Bibliography: Gross and Harithas, as Study of a Model [R];
Simmons, 767 [R]

49.108

Ihe figure of Victory in the left mural at the Widener
Library is represented by a partially draped female
figure holding high the palm of victory. The allegory
shows a young soldier lifting Victory in his right arm
and grasping Death in his left; under him lies a fallen
German. The legend reads: “Happy Those Who With
A Glowing Faith / In One Embrace Clasped Death and
Victory.” According to McKibbin, the model was a
Mrs. Osburn, who posed on a high stool. 1

1. See letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, to James Harithas, Corcoran.

117

References and Exhibitions

Adelson, Warren. John Singer Sargent , His Own Work.
New York: Coe Kerr Gallery and Witterborn Art
Books, 1980. Unpaginated.

Birnbaum, Martin. John Singer Sargent: A Conversation
Piece. New York: William E. Rudge’s Sons, 1941.

Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. New York: Scribner’s,
1927.

Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and
Work. Boston: Little, Brown, 1925.

Fairbrother, Trevor J. “A Private Album: John Singer
Sargent’s Drawings of Nude Male Models.” Arts
Magazine, Dec. 1981, 56:70-79.

Flint, Ralph and Walter C. Clark. Exhibition of Draw -
ings by John Singer Sargent. Feb. 14-Mar. 3, 1928.

Grand Central Art Galleries, New York. Unpaginated.

Grand Central Art Galleries, New York. 1928 exhibi¬
tion (see Flint).

Gross, Ellen and James Harithas. Drawings by John
Singer Sargent in the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Alhambra, Calif.: Borden, 1967. Unpaginated.

Harithas, James. “The Sargent Drawings in the
Corcoran Gallery of Art.” The M alahat Review, Jan.
1968, 5: 63-75.

The Human Form. Contemporary American Figure
Drawing and the Academic Tradition. Essay by Edward
J. Nygren. Corcoran Gallery of Art exhibition. Jul. 29-
Sept. 14, 1980.

Lomax, James and Richard Ormond. John Singer
Sargent and the Edwardian Age. Exhibition organized
jointly by the Leeds Art Galleries, the National Gallery,
London, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1979.

Lucas, E. V. Edwin Austin Abbey. 2 vols. London:
Methuen; New York: Scribner’s, 1921.

Macbeth Galleries, New York. Exhibition.

Oct. 13-26, 1925.

McKibbin, David. Sargent's Boston. With an essay,
biographical summary, and complete checklist of
Sargent’s portraits. Exhibition. Jan. 3-Feb. 7, 1956,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A
Biography. New York: Norton, 1955.

-, “Carolus-Duran and the Development of

Sargent.” The Art Quarterly, 1964: 384—418.

-, “A Phoenix at Richmond.” Arts in

Virginia, Spring 1978, 18: 2-19.

Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Draw -
ings, Watercolors. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

Paris Salon. Exhibition. May 25-26, 1881.

The Private World of John Singer Sargent. Donelson F.
Hoopes. Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, Cleveland
Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Munson-
Williams-Proctor Institute, 1964-1965.

Ratcliff, Carter. John Singer Sargent. New York:
Abbeville Press, 1982.

Royal Academy, London. Exhibition of Works by the
Late John S. Sargent, R.A. Winter 1926.

Simmons, Linda, et al. An Illustrated Catalogue of
American Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Collages
in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery, 1983.

Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr. American Master Drawings
and Watercolors. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.

1955-1970. Corcoran Gallery traveling exhibition of
Sargent drawings.

119

Composed in Goudy Linotype by Service Composition,
Baltimore, Maryland

Printed on Hopper Sunray Vellum by Collins Lithographing
and Printing Co., Baltimore, Maryland

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